Lamia
by Otletes
Summary: What if Harry was stolen from the Dursley's doorstep before they had even known he was there? And what if he was raised by a loving family who cared for him? What if he had an amazing childhood before he went to Hogwarts? Amazing right? Oh did I mention that his new family isn't human? But a family of half snake creatures? Rating my go up in future. On Hiatus
1. Prologue

**AN: I do not own Harry Potter!**

Prologue

The legends surrounding the Lamia are all about a female with the upper half of a woman and the lower half of a snake. She's said to be a baby devouring monster. But that's wrong. The story of the Lamiae have been based on the story of one deranged Lamia that was put down by her peers long ago. Lamiae are not a race made entirely of women, though a male Lamia is rather rare. Or at least they were. Most of the Lamiae were mostly extinct now, hunted and killed for what they were. Though they were near impossible to kill, a spell was invented specifically to kill them.

The Lamiae race was a female dominated race because female Lamia could be created through metamorphosis from a basilisk or other large magical snakes such as jormungands, feathered serpents, and awanyu if they have spent five hundred years out of the eyes of humans in a magically rich area. Of course this only applies to females the only way a male Lamia can come about is for him to be born. But this is a very rare occurrence, only about one out of every seven males born to a Lamia have the chance of becoming a Lamia. The odds are a little higher if the father is a Lamia but not by much, about one out of five. More likely the males will be born as the snakes that their parents used to be. Whereas the females are all born as Lamia, though for some unknown reason most Lamia have males rather than females.

Hundreds of years ago the Lamia population was a decent size, a couple hundred, but now they are all but extinct, hunted to the brink by those afraid of them. But now the world has all but forgotten about them, having few and inaccurate stories and legends about the once great and proud race. But perhaps that can all change. Perhaps one, can bring back the splendor of this species to its former glory. The Lamiae that remain in hiding, can only hope.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Harry Potter. The boy-who-lived. The savior of the wizarding world was laying on his aunt's doorstep just hours after his parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort. He had no idea what would await him in that house for years to come. Abuse, hard labor, neglect. All at the hands of his 'relatives' simply because he had magic. But he was just a baby, a little older than one and didn't understand this or even contemplate this. No, he just slept away, unaware of the danger lurking just inside the house.

But Harry would never see the inside of that house, would never experience the abuse, labor, or neglect. Because he was saved from that by a Naga, a being that vaguely resembled a Lamia in the fact that she had a snake's tale and the upper half of a woman, but she did not contain the other attributes of a Lamia. She was a normal snake, a Black Ratsnake, and she was not as resilient and could die much more easily than a Lamia. She had long waist length white blonde hair, hazel eyes with slit pupils, somewhat pale skin, her snake half had black scales on the top that had little bits of white showing through in areas, and her underside was mostly white with little bits of black showing through, her tongue was long, forked, and pink, like most Naga's.

She slithered up to the boy in the dead of night and snatched him from the doorstep to take him home. Her tongue flickering out to taste the boy. **_"He is of snake decent. He does not belong to humans."_** Harry didn't know it, nor did his parents, but they were distantly related to a Lamia and that blood had been born strongly in little Harry. The addition of his mother's blood diluted the congested blood from his father's side and the failed killing cursed unlocked the serpentine blood allowing it to flow freely.

Though he didn't yet have any snake features, do in part to the fact that he was born to humans and not snakes, he would in time. So the Naga, Sessina, would take him home and raise him along with her other children. Or at least she would try. She knew the boy was still too human at the time to be fed as one of her snaklings would.

Frowning a little to herself Sessina made her way home as quickly as possible, not wanting to be seen by any of the humans. She had gone out that night to visit a friend who lived in the muggle world, she would never understand how the other Naga went about on legs whenever she was outside but she knew that the other was happy with her human husband who loved her dearly even though she was part snake. They had decided that the muggle world would be easier for them to live in because he was a muggle and with her being a 'dark' creature it was easier. They didn't have the Ministry breathing down their necks and they were able to live happily.

Sessina briefly wondered if she should take the boy to Tessa (the name her friend had taken to seem more human) and her husband, they would know how to care for the boy while he was more human and when he came into his snake heritage. But looking down at the beautiful child in her arms she wanted to keep him. He had hair as black as night and when his little eyes open she could see the most beautiful shade of green she'd ever seen. She could not give this child up. He was as much hers as her other children were.

So she took him home.

She lived in the wizarding housing district that was between Diagon and Knockturn Alley. Most of the residents there were either some kind of 'dark' creature or a wizard or witch that didn't have the money to live in one of those big fancy house and manors that the rich purebloods lived in but most of the time they would leave soon to go live in the muggle world, not wanting to live next door to such 'dark' creatures, like werewolves, vampires, and Naga. But they liked it that way. It meant that most of the time they could be themselves without having to conceal themselves.

Sessina entered her house and flicked her tongue out, able to tell from the scents of her home that her children were asleep and the babysitter, her friend Tory, was in the living room. Her husband had been killed protecting her and their eggs from Ministry Aurors who claimed that they were killing people in the last village they had lived in. It hadn't been true. They had lived peacefully eating mice, rats, and raw meat they bought at the market. Neither of them had ever even tasted human flesh, nor did they want to, but because they were dark creatures and people had been dying, they assumed it was them.

Her husband, Kilko, had been a very gentle man and had wanted nothing but to live in peace and raise their children. But when those men had showed up and tried to kill them he had turned into a raging monster and attacked. Sessina had gathered her eggs, twelve, and made to run, even though it hurt her to know that she was leaving her husband she knew that if she stayed they would all die.

She had just about reached the floo when she was hit with a cutting curse in the arm, causing her to drop six of her babies. Half of her eggs splattered on the floor, their protective eggs shattering and revealing their partially formed bodies to the elements that they were not ready to face. They died. All of them. It had broken her heart but she hadn't had time to mourn the loss of her children because if she did she would lose the rest. But she couldn't leave her children's bodies there so she gathered them up and entered the floo, watching as her husband was biting and snapping and clawing at the men that remained, he had already killed four of the seven men that had been sent to kill them. From the position of one of the bodies, it was apparent he had killed the man that had killed their babies right after the Auror had cast the spell too. For a moment she allowed her broken heart to take solace from that.

It only took a moment, before she could even throw the flood down to escape to Tessa's, she watched as her husband lunged at one of the men and sank his fangs into his neck, killing him. But then the other man cast a curse at his back, she didn't know what it was, but it made Kilko howl in pain and fall to the ground.

The Auror turned to her and raised his wand, she didn't have time to escape, it would take too long to throw down the powder and call the name of her friend's floo. But before he could incant a curse, Kilko had clamped his venomous fangs around the man's leg. Kilko hand been rather venomous being a Broad-Banded Copperhead so she knew his venom would put the Auror down. He didn't know that though as he screamed and cast curse after curse at the Naga clamped onto his leg but Kilko just kept hanging on. Refusing to let go or die until his family was safe. Until his wife and snaklings were safe.

Crying Sessina threw down the powder and hissed out, **"Snakes sanctuary,"** and disappeared.

She shook away the painful memory, it had been nearly two years since then, and headed to the living room where a pretty werewolf was sitting reading a book. She had long brown hair that was braided down her back, large expressive amber eyes, and nicely tanned skin. "Tory. Thank you for babysitting." She called to the girl.

"My pleasure." The werewolf said as she closed her book and stood up. "The kids were wonderful. Well mostly. They were little terrors for a few minutes when I tried to get them to take their medicine. Shiko even tried to bite me." She rolled her eyes. "But other than that they were little darlings." She then noticed the child in the Naga's arms and raised an eyebrow. "Sessina? Where'd you get the baby?" She asked curiously.

"He was left on the doorstep of muggles in Tessa's town. But he does not belong to the race of man. He has the blood of a serpent." The Naga said, her tongue flicking out in agitation.

Tory held her hands up and then sniffed the boy. "Hm. It's kind of faint but yeah. He's definitely a snake." She looked the boy over. "Never would have guessed by looking at him. He looks human." She gently stroked the boy's cheek.

"I believe he may have been born to humans." She admitted. "You know how that sometimes happens. When a human and a serpent that is able to breed with humans sometimes having children that are more human and will continue to have children with humans until almost all of their serpent blood is gone. I believe that is what happened in the case of this boy. Something must have allowed him to be born with more serpent blood than his parents though." She murmured thoughtfully to herself as her tongue flicked out.

"Well he is a cutie." She said with a grin. "What are you going to call him?" She asked, figuring the Naga didn't know his name since he had been picked up from a doorstep.

"I'm not sure yet." She admitted while looking the boy over again. "Ryuunosuke." She suddenly decided. "Ryuu for short." She smiled at the boy while brushing the baby's fringe out of his sleeping eyes and gasped when she saw an angry cut on the boy's head. "Oh my!" She quickly went to the room she had all of her healing supplies in before Tory could ask what was wrong. She grabbed a few salves to put on the red and slightly inflamed cut on her little Ryuu's head. Most serpents, no matter what kind they were, were great healers and most of them prided themselves on this fact. They could heal better than those wizards and witches at St. Mungos but very few humans appreciated this and would rather kill all of the snakelike creatures that existed rather than admit that they were useful.

She gently rubbed the salve into the cut and heard the little boy make a content sound and snuggle closer to her as he no longer felt so much pain from the wound. Tory had walked in and peeked over the woman's shoulder. She made a sound of sympathy when she saw the lighting shaped cut. "Poor kid. Wonder what happened."

"Well whatever it was, it won't happen again." Sessina leaned down and kissed the top of the little one's head. "It's okay now Ryuu." She murmured to him before turning to her friend. "Tory… he's not yet serpent enough to be fed like my other children. Do you know how to feed a baby the human way?" She asked.

"Of course. I am the resident babysitter." She teased. Tory babysat for everyone on the street except for on the full moons, so she knew what most children needed. "He's still little enough that he'll need formula but he might also be ready to start eating baby food… I think I still have some formula and baby food at home. Would you like me to bring it over tomorrow?"

"That would be greatly appreciated." She said with a relieved smile.

"No problem." The werewolf waved it off. "I also have some books on childcare if you want those." She offered.

"Thank you very much Tory. You're a life saver. I'll just put him to bed and then I'll pay you." The Naga said with a smile.

"I'll wait by the door." She gave the woman a brief hug and then headed back to the front of the house to wait.

Sessina smiled at the little boy as she headed upstairs to her babies room. Since they were so young still, they had only hatched a year and four months ago, they were all in one room. They were sleeping in one crib that had a heat lamp over it to keep them warm, when they got bigger they would be more resilient to the cold but as little babies the cold effected them worse. She paused, wondering where she should put Ryuu. She couldn't put him in with the other little snaklings. They needed the heat lamp but Ryuu didn't. In fact putting him under the heat lamp might endanger him, he could over heat. Biting her lip in thought she looked around the room. She gathered some blankets and a pillow and set up a little, almost bassinet area for him to sleep in. **"I'll get you a crib tomorrow little one."** She gently hissed to him while running her fingers through his hair.

She checked on her other babies who were all sleeping curled up with each other, Hino, her only little boy, was sucking on his tail like he normally did and it made her laugh a little. Hino looked so much like his father already… with dark brown hair and beautiful gold colored eyes, he even had Kilko's nose and jaw, he was also a copper head and she was sure he would exactly like his father when he grew up. She smiled a little at her baby boy and then turned to check on his five sisters.

Shiko was curled up using her own tail as a pillow, her white blonde hair as wild and messy as it always was and her golden eyes were closed as she slept peacefully. She had her mother's nose and lips and her father's snake traits, it was a good thing her babies hadn't come into their venom yet or Tory might not be leaving tonight. Kiko had a tuff of brown hair and warm brown eyes, her father's nose and her mother's snake like traits, she was curled up mostly on top of her sister, Lissana. Lissana had her tail wrapped around her sister as she was sucking her thumb, she had pale brown hair, golden brown eyes and her father's snake attributes.

Next to them was Rikka, she had one of her hands fisted in her white blonde hair, her eyes looked like melting honey, her nose was more like her father's and her mother's lips, she also had her mother's snake traits. She was sleeping on her stomach with her tail being hugged by little Zissa. Zissa had golden hair, and eyes that sometimes made her think that the little one was made from the sunshine itself. She mostly looked like her mother in facial structure except the shape of her eyes and she had her father's snake attributes.

Sessina smiled at all of her little ones and kissed each of their heads before going back downstairs to pay Tory. Her husband had left all of his money to her and their children, even though it hadn't actually been all that much compared to other vaults it was still enough to keep them supported. She took out six Sickles, and five Knuts. "Here. And thank you again." She said with a smile.

"It's no problem, really." Tory insisted while putting the money away. "I'll bring the formula and baby food tomorrow. See you then."

"See you." She watched the werewolf walk home and then headed back inside. She went up to her room and slithered up onto her bed. **"Today was a good day."** She murmured to herself.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The next morning she was woken by seven crying children. She yawned and got out of bed to make her way over to their room. She knew that her little snaklings were hungry so she put little dead mice in their crib for them, knowing they would be able to feed themselves. She then turned to Ryuu and picked him up. "Sh. Sh. Your food will be here soon little one." She murmured to him as he made little hungry whimpering sounds. **"I know, I know. You're hungry."** She hissed soothingly. **"It's okay."**

She let out a relieved sigh when she heard a knock on the door. Making her way downstairs she let Tory in. The werewolf smiled in amusement at the Naga. "Here." She said handing her a premade bottle. "I figured it would be best to make him a bottle before coming over. I'll show you how once he's finished." She told her as they made their way upstairs to the rest of the children who were all finishing their own meals.

Sessina smiled as she gave little Ryuu the bottle, which he drank happily and hungrily. "Thank you Tory. I felt bad that I couldn't feed him along with his siblings." She said while rubbing the little boy's back as he ate.

"It's no big deal, really." She said as they both started to take the little snakes out of their crib. They looked curiously at the baby in their mother's arms and made little questioning hisses that had no actual words to them.

 **"** **My sweet little snakes, this is your new brother, Ryuu."** She told them. **"He's a little different than you but he's your brother. So be nice to him."** They all made little hisses of agreement as they slithered around the room.

She knew her little ones were growing up fast. Snaklings tended to age mentally a little faster than humans. She knew they understood her and they could all talk fairly well, before she knew it they would be all grown up. **"Mama?"** Rikka hissed.

 **"** **Yes baby? What is it?"**

 **"** **Why does our brother have legs?"** She asked curiously.

 **"** **You see your knew brother was born a little different. He hasn't come into his snake half yet because he was born to humans. But he will in time."** She promised the little girl while patting her head. **"Until then he will have legs. And even after he gets a tail he might prefer keeping legs, like Aunt Tessa, because he might be more used to those."** She explained to her children who were all listening to her. **"But he is your brother. So try not to treat him differently. Also he might not be able to speak yet so don't be upset if he doesn't talk to you."**

 **"** **Yes Mama."** They chorused.

 **"** **Those are my good babies."** She smiled at all of them and then looked down at Ryuu as he finished his bottle.

"Alright everyone!" Tory called, getting all of their attention. "Your Mama needs to get some things for your new brother today. So I'll be babysitting again." She told them making all of them smile and grin, they liked their Aunt Tory after all.

Sessina smiled a little at her. "Thank you Tory. I need to get little Ryuu here a crib and more of this formula and the baby food."

"Figured. So I'll take care of the little snakes." She looked at the child in Sessina's arms. "Are you going to be taking him with you?" She asked curiously.

"No. I'll leave him here with you. I think he needs to spend a little bit of time with his new siblings. Don't you Ryuu." She smiled down at the little baby who cooed back. "But before I leave I will be eating. Have you eaten yet this morning Tory?" She asked.

"Yep." She scooped up Rikka and Kiko as she was following the Naga downstairs, making both little girls hiss-squeal in surprise as they held onto her. "So I'm not hungry." She said with a grin as the other four little snakes were following their mother and aunt downstairs.

Sessina smiled at her and then entered the kitchen and made herself some breakfast, a bowl of raw meat chunks with milk. She had picked up the taste for it from Kilko. She had thought it was strange at first but after trying it she always had a bowl for breakfast.

Tory chuckled as she watched her eat. "I still don't get how you can eat that Sess." The werewolf said with a slight shake of her head.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it." The Naga told her with a slight grin.

"Well whatever." She rolled her eyes at the other and sat down as the little snakes slithered around the room, hissing with each other and starting little adventuring games.

Suddenly the paper appeared on a little corner of Sessina's counter. She paused in her eating to grab the paper and read it over. "Oh." She gasped in surprise.

"What is it?" Tory asked, not yet having a chance to read her own newspaper.

"The Dark Lord was defeated last night." She said while looking back at the paper. "Seems that the Potters were killed and their son defeated him. They're calling the boy, 'The boy-who-lived'. Poor thing. His parents get killed and now those wizards are going to be calling him savior." She shook her head a little bit. "Wizards really are foolish things."

"Tell me about it." She rolled her eyes. "Not that some of our kind are much better. Joining a madman like that just because he promises to treat us proper in the new world he creates? Yeah right. If he won he'd probably kill us all. Well except for maybe those of you that are snakes but the rest of us would be screwed."

"He does seem like the type." The Naga agreed while scanning the paper a little more before handing it to her friend to read. After she finished her breakfast she kissed all of her children's heads and then headed out to the Alleys. She took on a human appearance so that she wouldn't attract attention and started her shopping. She stayed mostly on Knockturn Alley where she knew no one would care if she was in her snake form but some of the things she needed were on Diagon.

After getting everything she needed it was about noon, so she made her way home, not wanting to try and find a place to eat somewhere in the Alleys. She wanted to get home to her children.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

When she entered her home her tongue flicked out and she followed the taste to the children's playroom where they were all playing as Tory sat in the corner, watching them. Ryuu was sitting and playing with a little stuffed snake as his siblings were all playing around and with him.

Smiling Sessina turned to Tory who was frowning a little bit. "Tory?" She asked worriedly.

"You just read the one article this morning right?"

"Yes… what's wrong?"

The werewolf took out the paper and handed it to her. Confused the Naga looked through the paper and froze when she came to an article that described Harry Potter. And more specifically the scar he had gotten from the failed killing curse. The same scar that Ryuu had. "Are… you saying that Ryuu is…"

"Is Harry Potter? Yes. I am. I mean it's the only explanation." She looked at her. "You kidnapped the savior of the wizarding world. They're going to be looking everywhere for him." She told her.

"And what are you suggesting I do?" The Naga asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I'm suggesting you make sure he doesn't look like Harry Potter." She said while crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against her seat as she looked at the little boy. "When his snake features finally come out he probably won't look too much like Harry Potter, but until then… You can't let people see him. And if he ends up looking like either of his parents… then you're screwed because you can't leave him locked up in here. Unless you in all your snaky wisdom have something that will change what he looks like."

Sessina hummed thoughtfully and then nodded a little bit. "Actually I think I do." She said with a slight smile.

"Seriously?" The werewolf blinked at her.

"Well you have to expect my race to have some secrets. And these secrets can't be undone by normal witches and wizards either." She smiled turned away. "I'll be right back. Can you watch the kids for a little longer?"

"Course." She said with a curious tilt of her head as she watched the other leave the room.

When the Naga returned she was carrying two books in her hands. They looked like hand written journals and like they were bound in some kind of snake skins, one was a deep rich green and the other was a soft brown color. "This is a spell book written by my ancestors." She said while holding up the green one. "And this one was written by Kilko's ancestors." She said while holding up the brown one. "They're full of our family spells and secrets." She said while running her fingers over the covers before opening the green one and started reading.

Tory peeked over her shoulder and then frowned since she couldn't read the language. Or really even the script. "What language is that?" She asked curiously.

"Parselmouth. The language of the snakes. What language did you expect?" She asked teasingly.

She pouted. "I don't know. Something readable." She grumbled while crossing her arms over her chest. "So what are you looking for?"

"Something that will change Ryuu's appearance." Sessina explained while flipping through some more pages before pausing on a page.

 **::In the case of Naga wishing to adopt a child through blood the child must be serpentine. If they have no serpent blood the adoption will kill them, or at the very least make them very, very sick. If a child is serpentine but not the same kind of snake. Like if they were a Basilisk and you were a Naga, if you adopted them it would, at most, change the colors of their scales, or if they have a human like appearance that appearance will change. But a basilisk will not become a Naga no matter who, or what serpentine creature, they're adopted by.::**

The passage went on to describe an adoption ritual that would make Ryuu her child through blood. Then no one would be able to take him from her, and his appearance would be different so hopefully no one would recognize him. And she could always put a glamour on his scar. Of course with Parselmagic because Parselmagic could only be removed with Parselmagic. She would just put a glamour on the boy but glamours could be seen through, even those cast with Parselmagic. So it was preferable to not just use a glamour in a situation like this.

She nodded a little to herself as she reread what she would need to do for the ritual. It would be complicated but worth it. She needed to brew a special potion for her and Ryuu, draw a runic circle that Ryuu would lay in, a runic circle she would stand in, and then incant the spell. It would take time, about a week to brew the potion and then about a day to draw the runic circles perfectly. Then the ritual itself would take about an hour to work. "This will take a little over a week to do…"

"What will?" Tory asked curiously.

"An adoption ritual. It will make Ryuu my child through blood and it will change his appearance." She said while humming a little to herself.

"Well he would be yours then. After adopting him even the Ministry wouldn't be able to take him from you. Not that they know where you are." She teased playfully.

"Yes well I like the thought of them having no right to my children." The Naga said with slightly narrowed eyes.

 **"** **Mama. I'm hungry."** Hino hissed as he slithered up to his mother, the other's following after, even little Ryuu, when he noticed all of them moving over to Sessina he started crawling over too, making the Naga smile a bit at the little boy.

 **"** **Alright babies. Let's go get food."** She picked up Hino and Ryuu as Tory picked up Lissiana and Zissa. As they got up and made their way into the kitchen and all of the little snakes got in their high chairs as she set Ryuu down in his own highchair. **"What does everyone want for lunch?"**

 **"** **Mice! Mice!"** Shiko hissed while bouncing up and down.

 **"** **I want bird."** Zissa hissed softly.

 **"** **I want mice too."** Kiko clapped her hands a little in excitement.

Hino was thinking hard about what he wanted before speaking. **"I want frog."**

 **"** **Mousey. I want a mousey."** Rikka hissed eagerly.

 **"** **I also want a bird."** Lissana told her eagerly.

 **"** **Alright my sweets. I'll get you your lunch."** She told them as she gathered what they wanted together and gave them all what they wanted. Then she turned to Ryuu and gave him some mashed peas and carrots for him to eat along with a bottle of formula in case he didn't like the baby food.

After making sure her children were all eating she made herself a sandwich of raw beef with blood with hot sauce on top. Tory got herself a nice bloody steak. The lunch was nice and Ryuu ate his peas and carrots, seeming to really like them too. She would continue feeding him formula for a while longer but she would mostly be feeding him baby food from now on.

They spent the day playing in the playroom and after dinner Sessina put her little ones to bed and said good night to Tory. She then spent the rest of the night until she was ready for bed, brewing the potion for Ryuu's adoption. She could only hope everything went right.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

On the day she had finally finished everything for Ryuu's adoption she was rather nervous. She hoped she had gotten everything right and that everything would go smoothly. She double and triple checked the runic circles to make sure they were exactly how they were in her ancestor's journal. Which they were, but she was just so worried. What if it didn't work?

She shook her head to clear it and then started rocking Ryuu and Tory kept the other children in the play room away from the ritual so that they would interrupt it. She kissed the top of the little boy's head and then fed him the potion. He made little whining noises and whimpered at the taste.

 **"** **I know. I know. It's awful. But I'm taking it too."** Sessina told him while taking her own potion and making a little face at the taste. She then placed the boy in a little bouncer in his circle before going to her own. Taking a deep, breath, she recited the spell.

 **"** **Mother magic I invoke and beg you. Come to me and aid me in my time of need.**

 **"** **Help me make this child mine in blood!"** She called, having to take a moment to take deep, somewhat shaky breath.

 **"** **In all your wisdom and splendor bring this child into my family! Into my home!**

 **"** **Make him one with my blood! For I wish to bring him into my brood! Make him my family!**

 **"** **SO MOTE IT BE!"**

The magic built up in the room and the runic circles her and Ryuu were in glowed green with serpentine magic and wrapped around the two. Ryuu made a little sound of confused distress at the sudden and disorienting colors. But after a few moments he started swatting at the light curiously, making Sessina smile. **_"At least he's not afraid of magic."_**

She let out a hiss of pain as she felt her palm get sliced. Looking down she saw her blooding flowing out of the cut and forming, what looked to be, a snake. It slithered across the short space between her and Ryuu and then it curled around the boy and his entire body was covered in her blood. He let out a little squeal of fear before the blood was absorbed into his skin. The magic pulsed and then exploded in a burst of bright light, blinding her for a moment.

When the spots cleared from her vision she saw that the runic circles were gone, indicating the end of the ritual, so she went over to the baby boy. His hair was still mostly black but now his bangs were white, his skin, which had been a little more tanned was now more of a peach color, his face structure was a little different than before too but it was hard to tell since he was still such a young baby but the shape of his mouth had changed and resembled hers quite a bit now. His little eyes were screwed closed from the bright light but when she picked him up he opened them again to look at her, and she gasped a little at the change. One of his eyes was still a beautiful emerald color and the other was a gorgeous shade of ocean blue, like her mother's had been. They were beautiful, and they were slit like hers and all snakes' eyes were.

She smiled at him and kissed the top of his head. **"You're beautiful."** She murmured to him. **"Welcome to the family Ryuu."** She kissed the top of his head again. **"I love you and no one will ever take you from me."**

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Dumbledore was not a happy man. Harry Potter was missing! He had just disappeared! And when he'd questioned the boy's relatives he had never even entered the house! What on Earth could have happened to the boy? Did Voldemort's men get him? But how? How could they have known he was going to be there? They hadn't even known that Voldemort was dead at that point.

They needed Harry. He needed to be alive because there was no way Voldemort was actually dead. Defeated yes, dead no. They needed Harry to fulfill the prophesy and kill Voldemort.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. All of his planning was useless without the boy. He needed to be the Wizarding World's messiah. So far he had been able to keep anyone from finding out the boy was missing but what would he do when it was time for the boy to come to school? And who knew what the boy would be like when he came to school?

He knew Harry was still alive because the boy's name was still on the list of children who had performed accidental magic. The way Hogwarts knew what students to write letters for was a nationwide spell that detected accidental magic that happened within the country's borders and then copied their name onto a list. So the good thing was, Harry was alive. The bad thing was he had no idea what the boy would be like when he finally did come to Hogwarts. Turning to the list he scanned it for Harry's name. But he couldn't find it. It was gone!

"No! No this can't be!" He cried out. If his name was gone then that meant he was dead!

What the headmaster didn't think of was that a student's name would disappear if they had their name changed. And in the case of Harry Potter, when his name disappeared another appeared. Ryuunosuke Narga.

 **AN:This is my first story. Tell me if I did any good and if I should continue. Please review. Thank you!**


	2. An Outing, a Wolf, and a Revelation

**An: So I'm embarrassed to admit this but... I forgot to give the whole 'this is my very first fic' rant on the first chapter so... here it is! This is my very first fic so please tell me how I'm doing!**

 **I also for got to put this...**

"English speech"

 _"English thoughts"_

 _English writing_

 **"Parseltongue speech"**

 _ **"Parseltongue thoughts"**_

 **::Parseltongue writing::**

 **So... I think that's everything... oh wait. Sessina. Her name is pronounced Se-see-na. If you want to know how to pronounce any of the names please tell me and I'll put it in the author note at the beginning of the story. Okay. That's all. Enjoy Chapter 1 of Lamia!**

 **Chapter 1- An outing, a Wolf, and a Revelation**

Five years had passed and all seven children were growing nicely, it was now late September and the weather was still nice enough that none of them had to worry about the cold yet. Just as she had thought, Hino was looking more and more like his father every day, but Sessina never let that influence what she thought of him. He was his own person, his golden eyes were always full of warmth and happiness. Shiko wore her hair short because she liked the way the short hair looked on her, and it did look good with her face structure, though it did make her naturally messy hair seem even messier since it was so short. She was always trying to figure things out about the people around her and her golden eyes always had a calculating glint to them. Kiko was always smiling about something or another and she loved spending time with her siblings. Her warm brown eyes were always full of laughter and warmth. Lissana liked to have her hair in a braid most of the time, she liked the feel of it brushing against the area between her shoulder blades. Her golden brown eyes were usually on her picture books or on her one chapter book that she was slowly making her way through. Rikka was growing her hair out, she wanted it to look like her mama's hair because her mama had 'the prettiest hair ever'. Her melting honey eyes were always full of curiosity. Zissa was still the embodiment of sunshine with her golden hair and eyes. She was a sweet little thing who loved to curl up in her mother's lap or with one of her siblings and just snuggle. Ryuu was always doing something. Whether it was something like running around and playing, or sitting curled up somewhere with a book. His unique hair was always messy, kind of like Shiko's, except worse, and his blue and green eyes were always full of warmth and love and brightness. But sometimes he got the same glint in his eyes that Shiko had.

All seven of the children were as close as siblings could be. They all understood from stories from their mother and Tory that they were different than humans and had to stick together if they wanted to survive. Though Ryuu was the most human of them, he didn't care. To him, he was just like them. He also knew that he would be more like them later, or at least not as human as he was now, even if he hadn't come into his heritage yet.

It helped that his siblings loved him and never left him out when they played. Though sometimes he felt a little left out when they were eating. They all ate their food raw, or still moving, and he always had his food cooked and he had to chew it. Unlike his family members who, most of the time, just swallowed their food whole. But there was nothing that could be done about that while he was human.

It also made things easier that his mother had told him as soon as he asked why he was different. He had been four when he had actually realized he wasn't like his siblings or mother and asked her why that was.

 ** _Flashback_**

 **"** **Mama?"** Little Ryuu hissed as he went up to his mother, even if almost none of his snake traits had come out yet he could at least speak Parseltongue, which was a relief to his mother. It would have been a little inconvenient if he couldn't speak the same language they could but they would have coped.

 **"** **What is it baby?"** Sessina asked while picking him up and setting him on her hip. She found it was easier for him to hold onto her like this by wrapping his legs around her waist.

 **"** **Why am I different from all of you?"** He asked while looking up at her, his green and blue eyes full of confusion. **"I don't have a tail like all of you. I have legs."**

She rubbed his back soothingly and kissed the top of his head. **"You see little one, you were born to different parents. But they couldn't take care of you anymore because they were killed. But they loved you, very, very much and never would have left you if they could help it. But because they died, I took you in since I knew you had serpentine blood in you."** She told him gently. **"Your parents were humans and at least one of them had a serpent in their bloodline that led to you. Don't worry baby. You'll come into your snake traits later."** She promised him. **"And just because you weren't born to me doesn't mean anything. You're still part of this family and you're my blood son."**

He smiled up at her, not quite understanding everything she said, but it satisfied him enough. **"I love you Mama."**

 **"** **I love you too baby."** She kissed the top of his head soothingly. **"I will always love you."**

 ** _End Flashback_**

Today was the first day they were being allowed to venture out into the Alleys, not just the residential streets that everyone lived on. All of Ryuu's siblings had learned by this point to change their tails into legs, though they still had scales on them and all of them were uncomfortable with them. They much preferred their tails that were so much easier for them to work with, but they knew they couldn't go to the Alleys with their tails out. It was mainly Diagon they were worried about, but they couldn't have them out in Knockturn either because of the Auror's that were sometimes patrolling there.

"Is everyone ready?" Sessina asked in English to remind her children not to use Parseltongue. The children all had accents that didn't really sound British because they'd all been using Parseltongue their entire lives, it made them sound rather exotic.

"These leg thingsss are weird." Shiko complained while rubbing at her thigh through her leggings. All of them had to wear long pants over their scaly legs so they didn't attract attention, well except for Ryuu.

"I know. And be careful with your s's. Try not to draw them out so much." The full grown Naga reminded all of them.

"We know Mama." Hino said with a little smile.

She looked around at all of her children and then let out a sigh and nodded a little bit. "Alright. You're as ready as you're going to be. Stay close and listen to me. If anything happens then use your emergency portkeys to bring you back home." She told them. "Show me your port keys." The five girls showed her their necklaces that had a snake charm hanging off of them and Hino and Ryuu showed her their leather bracelets that had little silver clasps shaped like snakes. "Good. Let's go."

They all left the house and headed towards Diagon Alley, deciding to explore Knockturn later since it was closer to their home than Diagon was. As they entered the Alley for the first time, the seven children all 'oo'ed and 'ah'ed at all of the shops with things they'd never seen before.

Sessina looked around at her eager children and smiled at them. They were all so intrigued by everything they saw. They passed several shops that none of the children were interested in until they came across the pet shop, Magical Menagerie. Then they were all begging to go in there while tugging at their mother's arms and shirt. "Alright, alright." She relented and led them inside. Instantly they were all, all over the shop. She rolled her eyes and went up to the counter where the woman was looking around at all the children running around with slightly wide eyes since it wasn't the beginning of the school year. "Hello. I'm sorry. They all insisted. And when it's seven to one you agree." She said with a little laugh.

"All of them are yours?" The woman asked sounding sympathetic.

"Yep." She said with a smile as she looked at her children who were all peeking into cages and pens at the animals.

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Ryuu was looking at a cat until it hissed at him and tried to swipe him through the bars. "Mean kitty." He then hissed back at it, making the cat back away from him.

"Scaring kitties?" Hino asked teasingly, the two brothers were never too far apart from each other since they were the only two boys in the family.

"He started it." The other boy said with a pout.

The Naga boy snickered in amusement as he looked at the rats with the eyes of a predator. "I'm sure he did." He sounded rather distracted while saying that.

"You do know that you can't eat those, right?" Ryuu asked.

"I know." Hino said in disappointment. "But they would taste so good." He said, drooling a little bit.

"Let's go look at something else." The human looking boy said while grabbing his brother's arm and pulling him away from the rats so that he wouldn't try to eat one of them. They ended up towards the back of the store where very few probably ever went. And there on the shelf were four tanks of baby snakes. One had Ball Pythons in it, the second one had California Kingsnakes, the third had Gopher Snakes and the last had Corn Snakes. **"They're so cute."** Ryuu hissed, not realizing he had slipped back into Parseltongue.

Hino came up next to him and smiled a little at the baby snakes. "They are. And remember. English." He reminded him, making Ryuu blush as he realized his mistake.

"Do you think Mama would let us get one?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know." The Naga boy said while cooing at a little Ball Python that was trying to crawl up the side of the tank. "Mama wouldn't like them being stuck in these tanks."

"I'll go ask her." Ryuu ran off to find their mother and grabbed her hand. "Mama? We found snakes! Can we have some?" He asked eagerly with big pleading eyes.

"Well I'll have to look at them. And if I do, agree you'll have to take care of them." She let the little boy drag her towards the back with the snake tanks.

Hino by this point had been joined by their sisters and they were all hissing excitedly with some of the baby snakes. **"Mama, can I please get her?"** Rikka asked hopefully while pointing to a little albino python. **"Please?"** She pleaded.

Sessina smiled at all of her eager children. She turned and looked at the signs next to the tanks. Turned out that these weren't normal muggle snakes. Each type of snake had a different magical property. The Ball Python's magical property would allow them to change their size to better protect themselves, which deemed them as dangerous. The Corn Snakes, when fully grown, had the ability to put anyone to sleep instantly, they weren't deemed too dangerous but were still warned to be careful with. The California Kingsnakes had the magical ability to leave their bodies, astral projection, again deeming them dangerous. And the Gopher Snakes had the ability to multiply several times over, making them dangerous as well, at least according to wizarding society.

She thought that maybe the little snakes may have more to them than what the signs said but she'd keep that to herself. "English my little ones." She reminded them gently, making all of her children blush as they remembered they were supposed to be speaking English. "So… all of you want one of these little ones?" She asked them.

They all nodded eagerly. "Yes, Mama." They all chorused with bright and hopeful eyes.

"Hm… will you take care of them? Feed them? Clean their tanks?" The woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes!" They all cried while nodding so hard it almost looked like their heads were going to fly off.

She smiled a little at her children. "Alright. Alright. I'll get you each a snake." She told them and then looked at the prices of each. All of the snakes cost three sickles and four knuts. It was a bit pricey and that wasn't even counting the other stuff they would need but she knew her children would be very happy and the snakes could, hopefully, become their familiars. "You all pick one you want and I'll go get the manager." She told them with a smile.

As their mother went to talk to the woman behind the counter, all of the children instantly turned to the snakes and started hissing to them, asking all kinds of questions about who they would be taking home.

Hino was talking to a pretty little Gopher Snake with light tannish scales that almost looked white with shiny black markings. She was talking excitedly about the outside world and asking what it was like since all of the little snakes had been born in captivity, they had no idea what the real world was like.

Shiko was complimenting a beautiful, deep orange-red and white colored Corn Snake. The top of her was a deep orange-red color and her belly scales were a pure white that contrasted with each other in a beautiful way. And Shiko was making sure she knew it.

Kiko was talking to a little Ball Python that was complimenting _her_. He was telling her how pretty she was and how lucky he was that she was taking him home. His darkest markings were a shiny black color and the lightest were pale tannish green color. He really seemed to be buttering her up, and it was working too.

Lissana was cooing cutely at a little California Kingsnake that had black and white bands up and down his body. He was more white than black and his belly scales were white too. He hissed excitedly to her about what he'd done the day before and he sounded really proud about his accomplishments, mainly finally being able to leave his body a little bit, though he admitted that he'd passed out almost immediately afterwards.

Rikka was still talking to the albino Ball Python. She had white scales along with markings that were so yellow they were almost gold in color. Her little red eyes were full of intelligence as they talked about what other creatures were in the shop.

Zissa was talking quietly with a Corn Snake, who was telling her about some bedtime stories his mother had told him. He was mostly a greyish silver color with red-orange markings that had black around them.

Ryuu was biting his lip as he looked between the two snakes he had been talking to. One was a pretty California Kingsnake who was mostly white with a black stripe down her back and her head was also mostly black, she was a pretty little thing and one of the smallest Kingsnakes in the tank. The other was a, somewhat cocky and big headed, Gopher Snake, and he was mostly a tan color with a mix of black and rosy colored markings up and down his back. He wanted to take both of them… but there was no way his mama would let him have two, would she?

When Sessina came back with the woman from the counter she asked what snakes they all wanted and everyone answered. Everyone except Ryuu. "Ryuu? Which one do you want?" She asked her son while setting her hand on his shoulder.

"Well… Mama… I… can't decide." He said while gesturing to the two little snakes that were both watching them intently.

She looked at the two snakes and then back at Ryuu, who looked really distressed about his inability to choose. She then looked at her other children who were watching them curiously now. "Would anyone feel upset about Ryuu having two snakes?" She asked them.

The other six children looked at each other and then shrugged. "Ryuu likes both of them. We like our snakes." Lissana said with a slight smile.

"Alright." The mother turned to smile at Ryuu. "You can have both of them. But you have to work hard to keep them. You have to take care of them." She told him.

"I will Mama!" He promised with bright, happy eyes. "Thank you so much Mama!" He hugged her tightly and then turned back to his snakes.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

After all was said and done, they had spent one galleon, twenty-three sickles, and ten knuts on the snakes, the tanks for the snakes, their bedding, the cleaning supplies for the tanks and a large bag of dead baby mice that would last for quite some time to feed the little snakes.

All of the children were carrying their tanks and talking to their snakes as they made their way back home. They had decided that the shopping was over for the day and that they would go to Knockturn Alley another day. Besides, Sessina knew that her children just wanted to get home and play with their snakes for the rest of the day. Also naming them.

As they entered their street, Sessina noticed a bit of a commotion. Some of the residents of the street were peeking out their windows or standing in their doorways. As they were approaching their house, she saw Tory leaning against their door. "Tory? What's going on?" She asked with a slight frown.

"A new resident in the Duren's old place." She explained while nodding to the house two doors down. The Duren's had moved out nearly a year ago when they ran into a little bit of Ministry trouble and had to run. The house had been vacant since.

"A new resident? A creature?" She asked.

"Yeah. Werewolf. He seems a little… well at odds with his wolf half." She told her.

"That can't be easy on him." The Naga said her frown deepening a bit.

"Nope. He needs to learn to accept that part of himself or it's going to kill him." The werewolf said with a slight shake of her head.

"Hopefully living here will help him." She turned to her children. "Go take your snakes up to your rooms." She told them with a smile. "Go on."

They had created new rooms for the kids so that they weren't all cramped in one room together. Hino and Ryuu shared a room, Shiko and Kiko shared a room, while Lissana, Rikka, and Zissa all shared a room. She knew that when he children got older they might want their own rooms, but until then this would work for them.

The seven little terrors all nodded and ran upstairs with their new friends.

"Snakes?" Tory asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What can I say? They get along with them." She said teasingly making the other woman snort in amusement. "So what do you know about our new neighbor?"

"Not much. Just that he's a werewolf, his name is Remus Lupin, and he seems rather skittish and sad." She said with a shrug.

"Hm. We'll have to welcome him to the neighborhood then, won't we?" The Naga asked with a smile.

"Well, then you're going to have to be the first. Everyone else is too cautious to approach him." She looked the other over. "How are you going to approach him? Like that?" She asked, nodding to her legs.

She looked down at herself. "I'm not going to approach him like this. That would be uncomfortable for me and deceptive." She told her.

"Whatever you say sweetheart." The werewolf said with a snicker before heading back to her own house.

Sessina shook her head and then turned to look at the house just as a tall man with sandy blond hair, who had several scars on his face, came out. She smiled and waved at him. He looked surprised for a moment before raising his hand and waving a little bit. Before she could callout and say hello, she heard one of her little girls, it sounded like Rikka, and she had to head in to see if her little girl was alright.

Turned out Rikka was calling for her because she was hungry and was wondering what was for lunch. As it turned out, all of her kids were hungry and wanted lunch, so she made them some pasta with raw meatballs and bloody sauce, except Ryuu. She cooked his meatballs and gave him regular sauce. After eating, they all went to do their own things again, mainly playing with their baby snakes.

Sessina smiled as her children were all in the living room with their little snakes and letting them slither all over them. She was doing the dishes and cleaning up the little mess she'd made while cooking when there was a knock on the door.

Wondering who it could be, she wiped off her hands and went to the door. It turned out to be the new neighbor, Remus Lupin.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting." He blushed a little as he noticed her tail. "I simply wished to introduce myself. I'm Remus Lupin." He introduced while holding his hand out to her.

"Sessina Narga." She shook his hand with a smile. "It's nice to meet you. Would you like to come in and have some tea?" She asked.

"Oh. No… I…"

 **"** **Who is it Mama?"** Hino asked curiously while peeking his head out of the living room.

 **"** **It's our new neighbor Remus Lupin."** She hissed to him. "Mr. Lupin, this is one of my sons Hino. Hino would you like to say hello?" She asked.

"Hello." The boy said a bit hesitantly while waving a bit, his little Gopher Snake resting on top of his head.

"Hello." Remus said, seeming to be trying to get over the fact that they had just spoken in Parseltongue.

"I know I already asked, but would you like to come in for tea? I'll tell you a little about your new neighborhood and the neighbors." She told him with a smile.

"Ah… that would be nice." He finally conceded with a slightly sheepish smile as he followed her inside. As they passed the living room on their way to the kitchen, he saw that the seven children, six with snake tails and one without, were staring at him curiously.

"I'll introduce you to those little rascals after we have some tea." The Naga said and then looked at her children. **"You seven behave yourselves. Mr. Lupin is a guest."** She told them.

 **"** **Yes Mama."** They all chorused.

She chuckled in amusement and then led Remus into the kitchen. "What kind of tea do you like? I have chamomile, hibiscus, black tea, oolong, and green tea."

"Oh. Chamomile if it isn't too much to ask." He requested.

"I love chamomile tea too. So don't worry. You're not asking too much." She promised him before starting a pot of tea for them. "So… I know you want to ask. So go ahead. I won't be offended." She promised.

"Um… what are you?" He asked.

"I'm a Naga. As are my children. Well except for Ryuu." She shook her head a little. "He's… adopted." She admitted. "Anyways, Naga are half human and half snake. I'm not surprised you don't know what we are, few do. We're deemed very dangerous and are to be kept under control by… weeding out the population." Her eyes saddened as she remembered her husband and the six children that never made it into the world.

"That's… terrible." He said with a frown.

"Yes it is." She smiled sadly and then poured them both a mug of tea. "We're not evil. We're just trying to live our lives." She told him. "I'm not even venomous." She told him and then handed him his mug. "Let's go introduce you to the kids." She said with a smile.

The werewolf blinked a little in surprise at the abrupt change before following her back towards the living room where the kids were all still either sitting on the floor or the couches.

"Alright, make a hole." She told the two on the love seat. They both wiggled off of the couch to let their mother and Remus sit down. "Thank you my sweets." She kissed both of their heads.

"You're welcome Mama." The two girls chorused as they were both petting their Corn Snakes heads lovingly.

"Remus, these are Shiko," she gestured to her white headed little girl, "and Zissa," she gestured to the little ray of sunshine.

"Hello." Zissa said with a polite little smile.

"Hi!" Shiko waved with her free hand, the other occupied with her Corn Snake, who was wrapped around her fingers.

"Hello." Remus smiled at the two girls and saw their tails swishing along the ground a little bit.

Sessina smile as she gestured to her other children. "That's Kiko, Lissana, Hino, Rikka, and Ryuu." She introduced, each of her children waving a little when she said their name.

"Hello everyone." He said with a polite nod to them.

"Hello." "Hi." "Hey." Were the various responses he got in return.

"So? Have any of you chosen names for your snakes?" She asked her children with a smile.

"Everyone, this is Ederra." Shiko introduced while holding up her Corn Snake.

"Ederra? Means beautiful in Basque. Did Jerhoa teach you that?" Sessina asked curiously.

"Yep!" She said proudly.

"Basque?" Remus asked, surprised by the language.

"Yes, Jerhoa is a Fey who used to live in Basque Country. He lives down the street a little ways, near the park. He teaches the children foreign languages every Friday. The kids love it."

"He knows like a million languages!" Kiko said excitedly with bright eyes.

"Maybe not a million but quite a few." Sessina agreed with a smile.

"Mama. I named my snake too." Rikka said with a smile while stroking her Ball Python's head soothingly. "Her name is Kinoyuki. Yuki for short." She said with a smile.

"This is Sagi." Kiko pointed to the Ball Python curled up on her shoulder.

Lissana was stroking the California Kingsnake on her head as she was watching everyone else. "This is Nero." She told them.

"Lia." Hino said as the little snake curled up against his leg. "I know it's not fancy or anything but I like it."

"It's perfect." His mother assured him.

Zissa was humming to her snake before smiling at everyone. "This is Orn." She told them while as the snake reared up proudly.

Everyone turned to Ryuu at this point, and he seemed to be arguing with his Gopher Snake about something. Finally he looked up and smiled a little at everyone. "This is Que." He nodded to the Gopher Snake wrapped around his wrist. "And this is Megami." He said gesturing to the California Kingsnake wrapped around his throat, looking kind of like a necklace.

"I'm happy to see you all managed to come up with names for them." Sessina said, rather proud of her children for choosing such good names that had meaning, even though they were so young. She was sure that they would have regretted it if they named their snake something like Puff or Mr. Slither. Those were names for a pet, not a familiar, which she was sure these snakes would become.

"Those are all impressive names." Remus agreed. "How old are they?" He asked.

"Six." She smiled as Zissa slithered up onto her mother's lap and curled up against her.

"Six?" He asked in surprise. He knew they looked young but… He hadn't quite been expecting them to be that young and have come up with names like that. And they were leaning foreign languages already? "Aren't they…"

"A bit young, right?" Sessina asked with a smile. "By human terms, yes. But Naga children age a bit faster mentally. I'd say they're all at about the mental maturity of a ten or eleven year old human." She ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. "Of course, this doesn't mean that they can't still act younger." She looked over at Ryuu, who was frowning a little bit. "And even though Ryuu isn't a Naga he has matured quickly as well." She smiled at her son, who smiled a little bit back at her.

"Oh." The werewolf looked around at the children who were all entertaining themselves in one way or another, like reading or talking to their snakes. "They all seem to be good kids." He said with a slightly sad smile.

"They are. Except when they all get in a mood. Then they're all little terrors." She said while grinning at her children, several of them sticking their tongues out at her. "So anyways, Remus, you must have some questions, yes?"

"Ah… yes… well… my main one is how I came to even get offered the house. I mean…" He frowned in confusion.

"Ah. So you haven't been told yet. You see everyone on this street has the same landlord." She said while leaning more into the couch. "His name is Valdir Maxson. He's a vampire that's lived here since the town was first constructed. A century or so after moving in, he saw how badly creatures were being treated and how they had no place to go. So he tore down his large house and instead had all of these houses constructed. He then started inviting creatures to live here. He's continued doing this ever since. He sends out letters to creatures he thinks are worthy to live here and won't cause trouble to everyone else. The same thing happened to me after my husband died. Valdir sent me a letter and I moved in." She told him.

"That's… how everyone came to be here?" He asked with a slight frown.

The Naga nodded. "Yes. He wants to try and preserve as many non-human species as possible. He doesn't care much for humans, but he doesn't hate them either. So don't worry about him trying to recruit us for a 'human killing' army." She reassured him. "He's more interested in keeping everyone alive and out of the Ministry's grip. And because of that, we don't really have to pay rent. More like favors or jobs to be done along the street. Like repairing the houses, teaching the kids that live here, sweeping up the street and keeping it clean. Everyone contributes where they can. So don't worry about getting kicked out unless you do something stupid." She teased him.

"Well I don't think anyone has to worry about something like that." Remus promised with a smile. "I would like to stop having to move just because of my… condition."

"You mean because you're a werewolf." She corrected him. "There's no reason for you to avoid saying it here. There are several werewolves who live on this street. Believe me when I say no one here is going to criticize you for what you are." She reassured him. "Now, are you going to stay for dinner?" She asked him curiously.

"Oh. No. I should be heading back. I just wanted to say hello. You… were the only one who waved so I figured you would be the friendliest." He admitted with a slight blush.

Sessina smiled in amusement. "Perhaps it's foolish to be so kind, but I believe most deserve a little bit of kindness. Even humans, though I'm more cautious with them." She got up and held her hand out for his cup. "Don't worry about everyone else. They just need some time to get used to you." She promised him while leading him to the door. "Most of them will talk to you if you talk to them first."

"Thank you, Ms. Narga." Remus said with a smile.

"Please, call me Sessina."

"Alright, Sessina. Then I insist you call me Remus." He smiled a little at her. "Goodbye. Have a good day."

"You too, Remus. I'll see you around." She waved a little as he left, heading back to his new home.

 **"** **Mama?"**

She turned and smiled at Lissana. **"Yes baby?"** She asked while taking her daughter's hand.

 **"** **He seemed nice. Will he come by again?"** The little girl asked curiously.

 **"** **Maybe. It just depends."** She led her back towards the living room. **"I'm going to make dinner. It'll be done soon."** She told them while kissing the top of Lissana's head. **"After dinner I'll read you some fairy tales."** All of her children perked up at that and smiled, they loved when their mother read to them.

After dinner and the fairy tales, she put her seven little ones to bed. Just as she was putting Ryuu to bed, he grabbed her arm and looked up at her. **"Mama… I… I wanted to know… about my birth parents."** He blushed and looked at her hand that he was holding. **"You're my Mama. My only Mama but…"**

 **"** **I understand sweetie. I do."** She promised him while running her fingers through his hair. **"I'll tell you tomorrow, okay? After a good night's sleep."** She kissed his head.

 **"** **Promise?"** He whispered.

 **"** **I promise."** The Naga murmured to him. **"Good night, baby."**

 **"** **Good night, Mama."**

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Sessina sat in her room staring at the wall. She had assumed that her baby would want to know about his birth parents eventually but… already? He was only six. She closed her eyes and thought.

She had to take a few deep breaths. Her children knew about the Dark Lord and his fall from power, and therefore Harry Potter. She probably should have told them then and there that Ryuu was Harry. But… she hadn't. She hadn't really thought about it. She had tried not to think about who her little one was before she brought him home and now she was going to have to tell him. **"I messed up… I just hope he'll understand."** She murmured while laying down and pulling her blankets over her and tried to go to sleep.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The next morning Ryuu was up early before any of his siblings and went downstairs to find his mother, who was in the living room sipping on a mug of coffee and reading the newspaper. **"Mama?"** He called a little hesitantly.

She looked up, a little surprised that he was already up and then smiled a bit at him. **"Come here baby."** She waved him over to her while setting the mug and newspaper down on the side table next to her.

He ran over to her and crawled up onto her lap, snuggling against her. **"Can… you tell me now?"** He hissed softly.

 **"** **Of course sweetie."** She kissed the top of his head. **"I never actually met your parents. I only found out who they were after I'd brought you home and decided to keep you."** She started, hugging him close to herself. **"I should have told you a while ago. But I didn't know how. Before you were my son, Ryuunosuke Narga, you were Harry Potter."** She paused to let that sink in.

The little boy stared at her, not seeming to quite process what she'd said. **"Harry… Potter? You mean… the Boy-Who-Lived?"** He started shaking his head. **"No. I don't want to be Harry Potter. Harry Potter has people who want to kill him and people that want to treat him like a hero. And… and he doesn't have any family."** Tears filled his eyes as he looked up at her. **"You're not allowed to be Harry Potter's mama. The wizards and witches wouldn't like it."**

 **"** **Sh, sh. Baby, it's okay. It's alright. They won't take you away from me. And you're not Harry Potter anymore. You're my Ryuunosuke. My little Ryuu. And you have a brother and five sisters, and no one is ever going to take you away from us."** She swore to him while rubbing his back lovingly. **"They don't know that I took you and they don't know where you are. And they never will. You don't look how you did before because I blood adopted you sweetie. They'll never find you."** She kissed the top of his head. **"Besides, you're Ryuunosuke Narga now. They'll never expect you to be Harry Potter."** She reassured him.

He wiped at his eyes and snuggled against his mother, wrapping his arms and legs around her in a vice like grip, refusing to let go. **"I love you, Mama."** He kissed her cheek and then rested his head against her shoulder while thinking.

 **"** **I love you too, baby."**

They sat like that for a few minutes in silence, until Ryuu broke it. **"Mama… If I used to be Harry Potter… that means my birth parents died protecting me, right? And that they loved me? And that they were brave, right?"** He asked softly.

 **"** **That's exactly what it means, sweetie."** She murmured to him.

He smiled a little and then frowned in thought. **"Mama… if I used to be the Boy-Who-Lived… then where did you get me?"** He looked up at her. **"Wouldn't people keep a hero somewhere… I don't know… safe?"** He asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

 **"** **You would think so… but I found you on a doorstep in a muggle neighborhood. Left all alone at night."** She was scowling a little now as she remembered the night she had grabbed him from the doorstep of that house. It had been October, going on November, and he'd just been _left_ out in the _cold_. It infuriated her.

 **"** **A doorstep? Why?"** Ryuu asked while blinking in surprise.

" **I don't know sweetie."** Sessina said with a slight shake of her head. **"I just know that they were human and that you are not. You would have most likely been unhappy there."**

He nodded a little while snuggling more into his mother's arms. **"I'm happy you took me Mama. I'm happy that you're my Mama and that I have my brother and sisters."** He sat up and smiled brightly at her. **"I'm happy that no one else raised me."** He jumped to the ground and looked up at her with his head tilted slightly to the side. **"I'm hungry. What's for breakfast?"**

She laughed and then got up and headed into the kitchen. **"How about bacon pancakes and eggs?"** Even her other children liked all of that; it was meaty and tasted good, so she could serve them all the same thing without any of them, mainly Ryuu, feeling left out.

 **"** **Yeah!"** He cried happily while bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. **"Bacon pancakes and eggs!"** He sang while all but skipping to the kitchen.

The Naga chuckled at her son's singing, he was just so adorable. **_"No one will ever take him from me. He's my baby. And may whatever god you believe in have mercy on your soul when you try and take a baby away from its mother."_** She thought fiercely as she started making a breakfast that was big enough for a small army. Or at least seven hungry children.

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Five years. That's how long Albus Dumbledore had been trying to figure out what to do. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was dead, he knew that from the list. But he couldn't exactly tell the public that their savior had been killed, most likely by Death Eaters, and especially not five years after it had happened. For the first two years, he had held out hope that the boy was still alive, but that hope had died long ago. There was no way the boy was still alive, but he couldn't tell anyone. They would be in a panic.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He needed to think, not that it had done him much good so far. He'd been looking for a child that he could use and turn them into Harry Potter, someone the public would be able to adore and he'd be able to mold into the perfect hero. So far he hadn't found someone that would fit. He could use potions and glamours to make the child look like Potter but he needed a magical child and those were hard to come by. At least ones that didn't have families that would miss them.

A muggleborn would probably work nicely, as long as the family was afraid of the child's magic then they wouldn't mind if he disappeared. He got to his feet and nodded a little to himself. He would try for one more year. If he didn't find a child that he could use, he would tell everyone that Harry Potter had died, either from an illness or some kind of accident. He would be able to do this. It just took a little bit of maneuvering on his part. Besides, children's accidental magic would be stronger by the time they were six or seven and would be more prominent now. It should be easier to find a child now, even if he had to go out of the country to find one that would work.

 **An: Don't expect updates so quickly later on. I'm a collage student who managed to get some extra time to work on this, this may not be the case later on, but I will try to update once a week and if not once a week once every two weeks. Please rate and review! Pretty please?**


	3. Birthdays, Weapons, and Wands

**An: I don't own Harry Potter! Though I wish I did...**

 **Longest chapter so far! Over 10,000 words!**

 **So warning... this chapter hasn't been beta'ed yet, so please forgive any mistakes!**

 **Chapter 2 - Birthdays, Weapons, and Wands**

"Happy birthday!" Everyone yelled as the seven children blew out their birthday candles from each of their small personal cakes. It was April sixth, their birthday. Really, Sessina's children had hatched within a three day period, but they just chose the day in the middle, the sixth, and celebrated their birthday then. She also knew that Ryuu's birthday was completely different, not even in the same season, but after talking to him about it he had decided to celebrate his birthday with the rest of his siblings.

They were having the party in the park that was down the street from the Narga house hold, since not everyone would fit in their house. Everyone on the street had been invited after all and they didn't want everyone to be crowded. The park also allowed the children to play on all of the playground equipment. They had their snake tanks there as well so that the birthday boys' and girls' familiars could be part of the festivities as well.

Ryuu pulled the seven candles out of his cake as the guests were getting slices of cake from the larger cake that was for all of them. He grinned at the chocolate cake and the vanilla ice cream he had. He looked around at everyone else, the vampires that lived on the street all had special spells on them and had taken special potions that would allow them to be out in the sun. Though they did try to stay in the shade. Even Valdir was there, sitting in a chair under the shade of a tree as he watched the party.

The kids that were there were all sitting at the moment, but everyone new that as soon as the cake and ice cream was eaten they would be running around wildly. There were young werewolves, vampires, fey, and other creatures digging into their cake and ice cream.

Ryuu grinned at his siblings who all grinned back before they all attacked their cake with gusto. After finishing their sugary treats, all of the kids started running around and playing. Some of them were on swings and the merry-go-round and some of the others were playing freeze tag.

Hino was playing freeze tag with Ryuu, Kiko, and Shiko. Lissana, Zissa, and Rikka were on the swings and singing.

"Should have had them open their presents before the cake." Sessina said with a slight shake of her head as she watched them.

"They do seem to be reluctant to come sit down." Remus agreed with an amused smile. In the last seven months, Remus had become a rather close friend. He had also become one of the teachers at their little school that was in the building next to the park. It gave the children a chance to interact with each other and have friends outside of their siblings and taking some of the weight off of the parents to teach their children everything.

"Even for shiny gifts." She smiled as she watched as Shiko was 'it' and all of the kids were trying to avoid her tail and her hands as she tried to freeze them.

"Well, can you blame them?" The werewolf asked with a chuckle. Living around people that knew what he was and didn't care did wonders for him. Also being able to run around on the full moon helped too. He hadn't joined the resident pack yet, still reluctant since his last encounter with a werewolf pack had been Greyback's pack. The other wolves understood and weren't pressuring him. They were giving him the time and space he needed, knowing how hard it could be for a wolf who had been alone for a while, many of them had been in the same situation when they first came to live here.

"I suppose not." She conceded as she watched Shiko manage to freeze everyone. Well no. That wasn't quite right. Ryuu hadn't been frozen yet, and he was fast. He knew how to dodge his sister's tail and grabbing hands as he ducked and weaved, almost looking like an acrobat. He managed to get around her and started unfreezing everyone else as quickly as he could.

"HA!" The little multi-color eyed boy cried out in victory when he managed to unfreeze everyone. He grinned at his sister and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Ah! I just froze all of them!" Shiko cried out in frustration as she pouted a little bit, but they could see the calculating glint in her eyes as she watched her brother, Ryuu had the same glint as well while grinning at her.

"Seems almost like they're playing mind games." Remus said as he watched the two children having a staring contest.

"Those two are always like that. Like they're trying to pick each other apart with their eyes." Sessina said as she watched them. "Those two love challenging each other, but they also can't play together a lot because they know it'll become a full-out war eventually." She explained and then decided to stop her children from starting a war with each other. "Presents!" She yelled.

All the kids on the playground paused for a second before turning and running towards the present table. It took a little while to get all of the kids situated and the presents passed out to the seven birthday children, but once they did, the Naga and Ryuu all seemed to be eager to rip into the gifts. Their familiars had all slithered onto their masters' bodies to get a better view of what was going on.

"Alright. Go ahead." Sessina said with a smile and watched as they all tore into their gifts.

They all knew that most of the people living on this street weren't rich and it was hard getting presents for all seven of them. So they had broken it up so that certain families got certain siblings a gift while the rich families, mainly Valdir and a couple of others, got each of the children a present. It worked well and made sure no one would feel left out and none of the families had to go bankrupt trying to buy gifts for children that weren't even theirs.

Each of the children got at least one book; Lissana ended up with three which she was very happy about. They also got clothes, a lot of it handmade and enchanted, mostly from the fey that lived on the street since they had some of the most impressive clothes-making skills and had the best charms for clothes. The girls all got jewelry: bracelets, necklaces, rings, and tail bands that they could put on their tails; when they turned their tail into legs the bands would turn into anklets. The tail bands could get fairly expensive, but she figured that since Lira, a vampire who had a talent for making anything glittery, was the owner of the only store in the Alley's that sold them, she had made them especially for her girls. For the boys, rather than jewelry, they were each given a set of fake tattoos, which they were looking through eagerly. And of course they each got toys that they would probably end up sharing with each other.

Finally they were all down to their last present. The present from Valdir Maxson. It was a tradition at every birthday party for the present from their landlord be opened last. The vampire smiled as he walked over to the children and crouched down to their level, his long silky black hair nearly brushing against the grass, and his blood red eyes full of an almost childlike glee as he watched them. "I hope you enjoy your gifts." He told them in his deep baritone.

When they opened their gifts, they each found a set of beautiful robes that were charmed against the cold and would keep them nice and toasty in the dead of winter while also keeping them reasonably cool in the summer so that they weren't dying from the heat. "Thank you Mr. Maxson." They all said to him with grins.

"They'll grow with them until they're about fourteen or so. That's when the growing charm will wear off. They'll also change to whatever color the children want so that they aren't stuck with the same colored cloak for seven years." He explained to their mother.

"Thank you Mr. Maxson. These are perfect." She told him while looking at the cloaks. Those had to cost a fortune with those extra charms on them. Not to mention she was pretty sure that they were made of unicorn hair…

"You shouldn't worry about what they cost me Ms. Narga. Money is no object to me." He told her.

"Ah... I know. It's just when I think of how much they must have cost…"

He chuckled. "It makes you wonder how truly rich I am, doesn't it?" He asked her. The Naga nodded and he chuckled again before walking away.

"Alright kids. Time to head home." She told her children, other parents doing the same.

"Aw." They whined.

"No. We're going home. It's almost dark." Sessina said before they could start begging her to stay a little longer. "Come on." She said while waving her hand and with a couple of hissed words, had all of their things back home in each of their rooms waiting for them.

They all pouted, but followed her back home. She smiled as they all rushed upstairs to get their new toys, their snakes still wrapped around each of them in one place or another. She rolled her eyes and sat down, waiting for them to remember she hadn't given them their presents from her yet.

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Ryuu was looking through his new things until he found the books he'd gotten; he'd gotten two, and then put them on his bookshelf. He paused as he was looking at his gifts and then turned to look at his brother. **"I… feel like we're missing something."** He told him.

Hino nodded with a slight frown on his face. **"I know."** He muttered, looking like he wasn't sure what it was though.

 **"** **Oh!"** The blue and green eyed boy smacked himself in the face when he figured out what was wrong. **"Mama's presents! She never gave them to us."**

They both stared at each other for a second before turning and racing downstairs as quickly as they could. They were joined soon after by their sisters. **"So you finally remembered?"** Their mother asked them teasingly, making all seven of them blush. She laughed a little and waved her hand, a hiss later and, they each had a present laying in front of them.

The seven year olds all plopped onto the ground and started opening the gifts. Inside were what appeared to be journals. Each of them was bound with a different colored leather. Hino's was an earthy brown, Shiko's was a vivid red, Kiko's was pale green, Lissana's was a coppery color, Rikka's was a honey color, Zissa's was a gold color, and Ryuu's was a dark, almost black, grey.

 **"** **They're grimoires. I'm giving them to you because now that you're seven, I'm going to start teaching you magic, Parselmagic. And a grimoire is a good way to keep track of things and to put your thoughts in. These are magical and will take on features, almost like a personality the longer you have them. Their color may even change."** She explained with a smile. **"I hope you'll like them and use them often."**

 **"** **Of course Mama!" "Thank you!"** They all cried out while looking at their new magical books.

 **"** **Now you should know to never show anyone your books. Not your siblings, not me, and not even when you have a mate of your own when you're older."** She told them. **"A grimoire is private and meant to only be viewed by you. The only ones meant for many people to see them are family grimoires that are meant to be used and viewed by the whole family."** She explained to them. **"These will also change appearance in accordance to your personalities. They will either get images indented in the leather or change color or they may even do both."**

 **"** **Wow…"** All of the children were awed by the presents their mother had gotten all of them. They had been shown the family grimoires that from her side of the family and their dad's side of the family before and been told how important they were. And now they each had their own…

 **"** **You should only write in them in Parseltongue. It will keep what you're written hidden from normal people who can't speak the language. And most who can read it are others like us or the occasional magical human that has the ability to speak our language."** She looked around at them. **"So if you want, write it in a special code that only you know. But only use a code if you know it by heart and don't need a chart to know what it says."** She smiled and kissed each of their heads. "Happy birthday my little ones." She hugged them all by wrapping her tail around them. **"I love you all very much."**

The seven children snuggled happily with their mother, they all told her they loved her and after a little while they broke apart, all of the children immediately turning their attention onto their new grimoires. The magical tomes would be very beneficial to her children in the long run. It would be a great tool for them to use as they studied magic.

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Albus Dumbledore was not so prideful as to think that everything would always work out in his favor. Harry being killed had made that painfully obvious, but he had to rejoice whenever something did go his way. Like when he found the small, mistreated muggleborn boy. His parents had feared his magic and as such had started mistreating and abusing the child. He was about the same age and he almost looked right too.

The child, whose name he didn't bother learning, had black hair, almost the same shade of black as James' had been, he was pale but that would be alright, his features were hard to distinguish from how thin and young he was but it didn't really matter because he could just use a few simple spells to make the boy look right. But his eyes were all wrong. They were a pretty brown color but that just wouldn't do! Harry had to have green eyes. Emerald green eyes. Eye color changing charms and glamours were the hardest to do because of who sensitive the eye was. They tended to fade no matter how strong a person made them. He could use a spell but that would fade within a year…

He smiled to himself as he realized what he could do. He could put the spell on the boy when he got his letter to Hogwarts and then reapply it every year. Yes. That would work. He had his perfect Harry Potter replacement. Now all he had to do was change the boy's memories along with the Dursley's and everything would be set. And no one would be the wiser. He looked down at the child that was sleeping in his arms. He might as well apply the spells while the boy was sleeping. When he woke up he would be Harry Potter, the savior of the Wizarding World, the Boy-Who-Lived. The messiah that would save them all…

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Ryuu was sitting at the desk in his room writing an essay for Mr. Lupin's class, English. It was kind of boring but Mr. Lupin always tried to make the class as fun as possible. He wasn't the best at writing essays and they always annoyed him to no end. Luckily Mr. Lupin knew this and tried to help him as much as possible.

 **"** **Ryuu? What are you doing?"** Megami asked curiously as she slithered up onto his shoulder and then around is throat like she normally did.

 **"** **Writing an essay for Mr. Lupin's English class."** He told her while letting out a sigh. Putting his quill down, he leaned back and yawned a little bit. **"It's boring. I can't get my thoughts to stay focused on it long enough to do it right."** He complained.

She flicked her tongue out against his throat soothingly. **"It's okay. You can do it."** She reassured him.

 **"** **Thank you Megami."** He petted her head gently. **"Where's Que?"** He asked curiously while looking around.

 **"** **Sleeping. He says it's too cold out for a snake to do anything but hibernate."**

Ryuu looked out the window at the falling snow and smiled a little bit. **"I suppose he does have a bit of a point."** He conceded, thinking of his mother and siblings who were all rather sluggish because of how cold it was. Their house was of course nice and toasty which allowed them to stay awake and mostly active but whenever they had to go somewhere, like to school, or when their mother went shopping, they got really tired and slow. They also tended to start talking about hibernation and how they just wanted to sleep. **"So why are you awake my sweet?"** He asked curiously.

 **"** **I didn't want you to be lonely."** She admitted, he was sure that if snakes could blush she would be.

 **"** **Thank you Megami. That's very kind of you."** He kissed the top of her head before getting to his feet. **"I'm going to get something to eat. Would you like a mouse while I'm at it?"**

 **"** **That would be wonderful. Thank you Ryuu."** She flicked her tongue out against his throat again, this time in gratitude.

When Ryuu got downstairs he peeked his head into the living room, seeing Hino, Rikku, and Lissana all curled up together asleep in front of the fire. He snickered a bit to himself as he turned and entered the kitchen. He knew it wasn't his family's fault that they were so tired. They were snakes and it was winter, the middle of December. It was just how they were. He frowned a little to himself as he set the dead mouse out for Megami and started making himself a sandwich. He couldn't understand the rest of his family. Not really. They were snakes and he was… well he didn't know what he was. He knew that eventually he would become snake-like, at least he hoped so, but for right now he was human. Well… even that wasn't quite right. He smelled snakeish according to the werewolves he knew, and not just the kind of snakeish that would rub off on him from living with a family of snakes, the scent was _his_ snake scent. And then his eyes were also like his family's, with the slit pupils. So he wasn't a snake and he wasn't human. He had a foot in each world so to speak.

Letting out a sigh he shook his head and finished making his sandwich. He looked over at Megami who was humming contently after her mouse. Smiling he picked her up and let her rest on his shoulder before he made his way back upstairs to his room. He looked in on his other three siblings and found them all snuggled into their blankets sleeping. So he was the only one awake right now. Their mother had gone out shopping and looking for a job. Even though they had enough money to live comfortably until all seven of her children were grown-up and out of the house she wanted to get a job and save up as much money as she could. Now that they were seven she figured they would be mostly fine on their own and wouldn't burn the house down or something stupid like that.

Ryuu chewed thoughtfully on his sandwich as he re-entered his room. He didn't want to go back to the essay, that was for sure, but what else was there to do. Humming he looked around his room for something to do, he didn't really want to play with a lot of his toys… and reading his books didn't really seem interesting. His eyes landed on his grimoire and he picked it up with a smile. Flipping through it he remembered back to their first magic lesson with their mother, which had been a week after they'd gotten their grimoires.

 ** _Flashback_**

 **"** **Today we will just be going over the simple basics of Parselmagic. Unlike wizarding magic Parselmagic doesn't require a wand. In fact it does better without a wand because this form of magic was first invented by snakes. What use does a snake have for a wand?"** She asked her attentive children who were all sitting with lap desks on the ground in front of her. They were currently holding class in the living room since it was one of the biggest rooms in the house.

They all giggled at the thought. **"They don't need wands. Wands are a human thing."** Shiko said.

 **"** **True. And why else wouldn't they need a wand? Other than the fact that they don't have hands?"** She looked around at her children with a curious look.

The seven children looked at each other frowning. Ryuu thought hard about all he knew of snakes and humans to find a difference between the two. **"A wand…"** he paused and they all looked at him, **"a wand is used to help someone focus their magic and use it properly. But snakes… they can almost do that naturally, without the help of a piece of wood… right?"** He asked with an unsure frown.

 **"** **Very close. A wand helps a person to focus the magic yes but that's because the spells humans, and other creatures who use wands, create are harder to control and maintain on their own. A human can learn to preform wandless and wordless magic but it takes a lot of concentration and power before they learn to do it as naturally as they would with a wand. Parselmagic was created with the sole intention of using it without a wand."**

 **"** **Oh!"** Lissana bounced happily as she figured it out. **"So Parselmagic is easier to use without a wand because it was created to be used without a wand?"**

 **"** **Exactly."** Sessina smiled at the children. **"So Parselmagic will always react better without a wand. Of course there are a few spells that Parselmouth wizards and witches have created that use wands but you can find spells that do the same thing that was created without the use of a wand. One of the benefits to being Naga, or being raised by Naga, when it comes to Parselmagic. We have access to more spells."** She held up one of the family grimoires. **"Parselmagic can be difficult to control if you aren't careful. The fire spell for Parselmagic could be accidentally activating simply by saying 'fire' in Parseltongue if you aren't careful."** She warned them. **"So always be careful when activating your magic!"**

 ** _End Flashback_**

The rest of the lesson had been about how to access their magic and then cut off the flow so that they didn't accidentally use their magic when they didn't want to. By this point though they had moved onto actual spells and they were coming along quickly.

Ryuu sat on the floor and leaned back against his bed as he read through the things he had written in his grimoire. A lot of it was taken up by notes on how to do the spells properly and the intent that had to be behind the spell in order for it to work. But he had also written things about what had been going on in the last nine months. Mostly his emotions and such, like that day in June when he'd finally gotten the levitation spell to work, or the day he got angry at Shiko and Rikka for pulling a prank on him. There were also the times when he'd been upset about his inability to understand his family sometimes. And his loneliness at being the only like this.

He had hoped that when he asked his mother about his birth parents it would help him understand himself a little better. It had helped a little but not a lot. Both of his parents had been human. Completely human. Not in between like him.

He shook his head and flipped to a free page.

 **::So** **…** **I** **'** **m feeling a little** **…** **lost. I know that I** **'** **ll come into my snake heritage eventually. And I know that I** **'** **ll be more like my family then but until then** **…** **I** **'** **m stuck somewhere in between. I have a human body but I have a snake scent. I can** **'** **t do anything about it I know but I wish I could speed up the heritage or whatever so that I was more snake like now. So that I could at least eat the same thing the rest of my family eat. Something to make me feel closer to them** **…** **::**

He sighed and set down his quill. **"Dry."** He hissed at the ink while flicking his fingers at the page. The ink dried instantly and he closed the book. "Well that depressed me." He muttered in English. He looked at Megami who was snoring softly on his shoulder. Picking her up gently, he set her in her warm tank before heading back out of his room. He didn't want to stay in his room, he didn't want to wake his siblings, and he didn't want to write in his grimoire. What did that leave him to do? He looked at the door and then shook his head.

 **"** **You've never been out by yourself."** He muttered to himself, and then looked at the door again. **_"If it's just for a little bit… I could go to the park and play for a little bit then come back."_** He chewed on his lip, he knew he shouldn't, even though it wasn't against the rules he was still concerned about it, but he had his portkey and it wasn't like he was going that far. He just wanted something to do.

He grabbed his coat, gloves, boots, and scarf. He pulled them all on and then headed outside. He paused on the porch, wondering if he should head back inside. **_"Stop being a baby Ryuu. You know everyone who lives on the street and the park is right there."_** He yelled at himself before he started walking.

Once he was in the park he grinned and started building a snow Naga. He thought normal snowmen were boring, so he would make one that looked like his family members. When he finished he was wiping sweat from his face from the physical exertion. He looked it over and grinned. It looked just like a Naga. Not like anyone he actually knew but it looked like a Naga. It had taken him nearly an hour and a half to do but he felt good about having actually done something. It cleared his head and made him feel better.

After looking his work over for a little longer he yawned and headed back home. **"Ryuu?"** He heard a tired voice call.

He stepped into the living room and smiled at his brother who had woken up from the sound of the door opening. **"Hey. Sorry did I wake you?"** He asked while snickering a little as he watched the other boy, who was still trapped under their sisters.

 **"** **No."** Hino yawned. **"I was already waking up."** He rubbed at his eyes and then really looked at his brother. **"Did you go outside?"** He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

 **"** **Yeah. I went to the park. I was feeling a little… trapped."** He admitted as he watched Hino try to wiggle out from under their sisters without waking them. **"I made a snow Naga."** He said while putting his coat and boots away before sitting on the couch to watch his brother struggle.

 **"** **You know you could help me."** Hino said with a pout as he tried to hold the girls up and wiggle out from under them.

 **"** **But that's no fun."** Ryuu said cheekily.

 **"** **Come on."** He whined. **"I can't get out alone."** He pouted with a frown.

 **"** **Oh alright."** He laughed a little while getting to his feet and helping him get out from under Rikka and Lissana. **"Happy?"** He teased.

 **"** **Yes. I am."** He slithered over to the couch and sat down next to his brother while sticking his forked tongue out at his brother.

Ryuu laughed a little as he leaned back against the couch. **"Did you have a nice nap?"** He asked his brother curiously.

 **"** **Mm hm. The winter just makes us all so sleepy. Even if it is warm in the house."** The Naga boy stretched his entire body out, trying to get out the kinks.

 **"** **Yeah. I've noticed."** The mostly human boy shrugged a little bit. **"It's the downside to all of you being cold-blooded."** He reminded him.

 **"** **Well you'll know about that downside soon enough yourself."** Hino told him. **"You'll come into your snake heritage and then you'll know how much all of us suffer."**

Ryuu paused and smiled a little sadly. **"Yeah. But until then I just can't understand certain things about the rest of you."** He huffed in annoyance. **"It sucks."**

 **"** **Don't worry. You'll understand."** He promised while setting his hand on his brother's shoulder. **"It'll be okay. And you're not missing out on all that much. Just being bothered by the cold and stuff like that."** Ryuu raised an eyebrow at him. **"Well there's a little more than that but it's nothing too big. You don't need to worry about it."** He reassured him.

Before the mostly human boy could respond they heard the front door open and their mother call that she was back. **"Hey babies."** She said as she entered the living room with a smile. **"How's your day been?"**

 **"** **Good Mama."** They both said at the same time and then laughed at the way they'd spoken together.

She chuckled at then looked at the two little girls sleeping in front of the fireplace. **"I could probably use a nap myself after being out in the cold like that."** She said with a slight smile as she slithered over to the two boys. **"I could use some help putting the groceries away."** She told them, making both boys groan but get up to help her.

Once they were in the kitchen she unshrunk all of the bags and set them on the counters. **"Wow… you got a lot Mama."** Ryuu said as he started taking things out of bags.

 **"** **Yes. I wanted to stay stocked up for the winter."** She put a couple of bags of dead mice away, they had preservation charms on them so that they wouldn't rot or decay. **"Also, I got a job while I was out. An older woman on Knockturn needs some help in her bookstore so I'm now working there."** She smiled as she thought of her new job and her employer. **"She's also really flexible with my schedule. She understands that children are a handful."** She patted both of the boys' heads and smiled.

 **"** **Will we be able to come see the store?"** Ryuu asked eagerly, he knew Lissana would be beyond eager to go to a bookstore, she loved reading. But Ryuu liked reading to a certain extent as well and liked learning new things, knowledge is power after all.

 **"** **Of course. Whenever you want. Well almost whenever. Not on the days that the store is closed."** She said teasingly.

He rolled his eyes. **"Well duh."**

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Yule, better known as Christmas, was almost always a relatively subdued event in the Narga house because of the cold weather and most of the residents being cold-blooded. And even though it was subdued that didn't mean they didn't have fun. They spent a few hours sitting around the decorated tree opening presents and just talking.

Remus stopped over around lunch time and gave them presents, Sessina then insisted that he stay for lunch. Which of course he did. The day was spent hanging out, playing games, and talking. A nice and relaxing day spent with family and friends.

When the kids were eight a cyclops family moved in down the street. There were four of them, the mother, father, and two boys. They were a nice and sociable family, Sessina and Tila, the mother of the cyclops family, became quick friends which meant the boys would be over more often than not. Pypho, the father, got along quite well with Remus, they were both rather scholarly and could spend hours talking about something they'd read.

The boys, Ilno, the older brother who was ten, and Nol, the younger brother who was eight, got along really well with the seven Narga children. They became quick friends and would often times go to the park or one of their houses to play. Ilno, despite being the oldest of the group, wasn't the 'leader'. That ended up being Ryuu who ended up being the leader simply because he was smart and tended to be able to keep them all out of trouble with quick thinking actions and explanations.

With nine children playing together most of the time it was next to impossible for them not to do something that would get them in trouble. Like sneaking out to play at night or something like that. Ryuu was eerily good at getting them out of trouble or even keeping them from ever being caught in the first place. Which was why he was their unofficial leader.

It was nice for all of them having friends. Epically the cyclops boys. Apparently before coming to live here they had been on the run, mainly living in caves and other places like that. Really no life for two young children. Which was why Valdir had given them the choice to live here, and they'd taken it with both hands.

Tila and Pypho both got jobs and got themselves and their children new clothes, which they'd all been thankful for. Along with being able to eat three scare meals a day, which was good, because cyclops were strong creatures that needed a lot of food to keep up their strength and stamina. Ilno and Nol went to school with the rest of the kids, they were behind everyone else but they still did a good job considering how little schooling they'd had. Most likely neither of them would catch up with their intended class but that didn't really matter to them. They were learning, having fun, and making friends. Which of course made their parents happy.

They finally had lives. All of them. And that was more than enough for all of them.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

On the kids' ninth birthday Valdir decided to get them something that he usually got kids once they reached a certain level of maturity, which usually wasn't until about ten or eleven. But the Narga children had matured faster than most. So they got it earlier.

It was three slips of parchment that all said:

 _This certificate is good for one wand from Ollivanders Knockturn Alley shop._

 _This certificate is good for one full set of battle robes and gear from Brond's Battle Ready Shop on Knockturn Alley._

 _This certificate is good for two weapons from Brond's Battle Ready Shop on Knockturn Alley._

Everyone on the street could fight, not only with magic but with their fists as well. The kids got battle training in school. It was a class they took every Wednesday and most kept up with it throughout the week and on the weekends. They knew that being able to fight could be what saved them if things went bad in a fight. And it's not like most wizards and witches knew how to fight with their fists. Magic was the only weapon they knew how to use.

"Be sure you know what you're doing okay kids?" The vampire told them. "Wands are so you can extend your magical knowledge to other branches of magic. Of course you could still use wandless magic with most other kinds of magic but it's much easier when you use a wand when you're first learning them." He told the kids as they were staring at the certificates.

He then turned to Sessina. "I hope you don't mind. I know they're a bit young still, but I think they're ready." He told her with a slight smile.

"I agree. They are ready. They all know how to fight and they're coming along very well in their Parselmagic training." She smiled at her children who were now talking excitedly to each other about the battle robes, weapons, and wands they would be able to get. "They're tough little ones. Smart too."

"And you're planning on sending them to that school aren't you? Hogwarts. You know they'll be in danger there."

"I know. But Ryuu deserves to learn the magic his birth parents practiced. And the others will want to follow him. I'll make sure they can cast glamours and that they can stay in their human forms for long periods of times without it being too much for them. Also how to get rid of their shed skin without attracting too much attention to themselves." She let out a sigh as she watched her nine year olds still chattering happily about their presents. "But don't get me wrong. I'm scared as hell. What if something happens? What if they get found out? What if they get hurt?"

"They're strong." Remus said, making both of them look up at him. "You said so yourself. They would survive at Hogwarts. I did."

"But the teachers knew you were a werewolf. They won't know what my children are."

"Maybe not. But that doesn't matter. Not really. They're not something that'll change once a month and need to be away from other children." He set his hand on her children. "They'll do great." He told her.

She looked over at her kids and then back at Remus. "You're right. They probably can make it. But the biggest problem is the winters. When all they want to do is hibernate it will be hard for them to concentrate in classes."

"We still have two years before they got to Hogwarts. Plenty of time to come up with a spell that'll keep them warm enough to stay awake during the winter." The werewolf reassured her. "Don't worry. Your children will be fine."

Sessina stared at him for a few moment before smiling. "Thank you Remus. Really." She kissed his cheek. "I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome." He hugged her a little bit before pulling back. "Your kids will give Hogwarts hell. I'm not all of the professors will be able to handle it." He teased.

She laughed. "You're right about that. I hope they're prepared for seven little terrors." She grinned at the thought of her children all but taking over the school. "It'll be quite impressive." She mused to herself.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

When they entered Brond's Battle Ready Shop, Kyle and Leslie Brond, a happily married cyclops couple, were behind the counter talking. When they saw the family they walked out from behind the counter smiling.

"Hello! You must be the Narga family. Seven children, five girls and two boys." Leslie said with a grin. "We'll need to get all of your measurements to make the battle suites. I know on the certificate it says robes but… they're more like body suites." She explained. "I'll be measuring all of the girls and my darling husband will be measuring the boys." She smiled brightly at all of the children.

"Then we'll get you all set up with weapons." Kyle said with a chuckle. "You must also forgive my wife. She's just excited about this order because of difficulty and how many of you there are." He set a hand on his wife's shoulder as she pouted.

"Well forgive me. It's not every day I get to make five outfits for Naga girls." She said, her eye bright with excitement. "Don't be such a downer just because you only get to make two outfits.

He shook his head and turned back to the family. "Which one of you is Ryuu?" When the boy raised his hand he nodded a bit. "Alright. Well with yours we've been told that you haven't come into your snake heritage yet so when you do come into your snake abilities we'll adjust your battle suite for free. You'd just need to come in and be re-measured." He reassured him before looking at the rest of them. "Your battle gear will have charms on them that will allow them to grow with you until you've stopped growing. If at some point your gear stops growing with you for whatever reason come back and we'll find out what's wrong, and reapply the charms." He promised.

"Now. We have two rooms for measuring. So which girl and which girl want to go first?" Leslie said with a grin. The girls started talking while Ryuu and Hino played rock-paper-scissors to see which of them would go first. Lucky for Ryuu he won so he went first. He followed just as the girls finished talking and Kiko followed Leslie.

"Now I need to you strip to your underwear. I know, it sucks and is invasive but it's the only way to get an accurate measurement for your gear." He explained.

Ryuu blushed a little bit before taking his clothes off. "So… how long will this take? The measuring I mean."

"Not too long." He said while taking out a measuring tape. Then he was moving. Ryuu watched in astonishment at how quickly the man was able to measure him. He barely even felt where the measuring tape touched him. "There. All done. Not too terrible right?" He asked with a smile.

"No. It wasn't." He agreed as he started pulling his clothes back on. "So… that was it?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah. It would have taken longer if you had a snake tail. Would have had to measure it all the way down and around… It would have taken maybe three times as long or longer. Come on. I still need to measure your brother. Then you can choose what you want your gear to be made of."

They switched off Ryuu waited with his mother and sisters as his brother got measured. It took a while but once he was done Kyle took them over to a rack that had sample materials for battle suites on it for the customers to look at and feel.

"So, we have dragon hide which is really good for durability and is near impossible to damage with magic or even really physically, but it's not very flexible. We also have basilisk skin which is a lot like dragon hide but has the same issue of not being too flexible." He explained a few more things they had, enchanted metal, skins of other creatures, some more flexible than others, all with different characteristics. "I would recommend dragon hide or basilisk skin. You can't really go wrong with those."

Ryuu was looking over everything they had and then turned back to the cyclops. "Could you combined skins and things? Like on the joints have the more flexible skin but on the rest of it have the more durable stuff?" He asked curiously.

Kyle grinned a bit. "You're a smart one. We can do that but we only do that when if someone requests it." He patted the boy's head. "Quite the smart one." He turned to Hino. "And don't worry about your tail. We have a special way of making your gear so that it won't interfere with your movement." He promised them. "So? Do you have your materials picked out?" They both nodded and he grinned. "Good."

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

By the time all of the kids were done getting measured and choosing their materials it was almost lunch time. They had gotten there at seven thirty, hoping to get all of their shopping done in one day. They had all chosen either dragon hide or basilisk skin as the hard resilient part of their suites and then mainly, enchanted leather and a leather like skin that was self-healing as their flexible materials.

"We'll send them to you when they're done." Leslie said with a grin. "It might be a week or two though. This is a rather big order after all."

"You have our address?" Sessina asked to make sure.

"Yes. So don't worry about anything." Kyle reassured. "We'll have it all sent to you when they're done. Now, why don't we all go out to lunch and then come back and get the kids set up with weapons?" He suggested.

"That sounds great. Let's go."

After they all had lunch at a nice restaurant on Knockturn Alley they headed back to the shop and started looking through the weapons.

They had everything. Swords of every make, knives in an assortment of sizes and shapes, spears, fighting staffs, and even guns. When asked about them Kyle laughed a little bit. "We see no reason to exclude one kind of muggle weapon just because it's not something 'old fashioned' or whatever. Guns are useful weapons. Especially these." He picked up a handgun, they mostly had handguns because they were more convenient, and took out the clip. "There's a charm that keeps the clip full, each bullet has runes on it that allow you to use the spells, Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Bombarda, Confringo, Diffindo, Expulso, Impedimenta, or Reducto. You just have to want to use one of the spells and the gun will shoot it." He took out one of the bullets and showed them the runes on it, before putting the clip back in. "They're handy weapons, most prefer their wands but for those of us that aren't the best at cast spells these are preferable. These are also faster." He put the gun back on the shelf. "So, look around and choose what two weapons you want." He gestured to the weapons rakes and then stepped back.

The seven children looked at everything, picking weapons up to look them over and see if they liked the feel of them. Zissa wasn't much for weapons that killed so she was looking at the staffs since she'd still be able to defend herself without cutting people up. And even though she wasn't so sure about it her mother convinced her to take a small little gun, one that if it was an actual muggle gun it would have only had one shot in it. It was a, just in case, weapon.

Rikka was looking at the swords, the double edged ones, she picked up a pair of butterfly swords, they were a little longer than her arms, Leslie had reassured all the kids that the weapons would grow with them just like their suites would. She looked down the two swords and smiled a bit to herself. She liked these. They were designed so that they could be used together like one blade or could be used like two swords, they were connected at the end of the hilts by a magically adjusting chain that would become as long as was needed. Since the blades counted as one weapon she also picked up a spiked chain. It would definitely come in handy.

Shiko was having a field day as she looked at _everything_. But she ended up being drawn more to the stealthy weapons. The throwing knives and throwing needles. In the end she chose as set of throwing knives and a set of bladed tonfas. She liked the thought of her enemy being distracted by the larger weapons and then her being able to take them off guard with a knife.

Hino liked the guns. He was looking between the different models. The bigger guns looked way too bulky and wouldn't work so good in a close fight. Even though he wasn't all that into violence but he knew that there would probably have to protect his family at some point and would have to fight. He picked up a couple of handguns and held them up in front of him. He felt pretty confident with his hand to hand fighting so maybe he would get two guns…

Kiko was looking at a long dagger, or maybe it was a short sword? It was about the length of her forearm, the blade was double edged with a whole in the blade. She wasn't sure why but she liked it. It had a certain esthetic appeal and it was a good weight and size for her. She also decided to get a katana. She thought the two weapons went well together.

Lissana wasn't really a weapons person. She could use them but she would much rather stay out of a fight and just read. But she had to admit that many of these weapons were interesting… She picked up a bladed fan curiously. It was heavier than she was expecting but still light enough that she could move without being restricted. She opened it and smiled a bit. She decided she'd get two of these war fans. They were just her style, and she could use them as regular fans too.

Ryuu was looking at all of his options. They had a lot. And he didn't want to pick something that he wouldn't like later. He checked out the guns, those were really cool and it would be nice to have one. They would also be easier for spell casting than a wand, faster. But he was also interested in the swords, mainly this one blade called a Dadao, it was large and curved. The only problem with it in his opinion was that it was too big. Not really a stealth weapon, which he would prefer, but sometimes having a lager weapon was good… In the end, after a lot of thinking, he got a hand gun, one that felt comfortable in his hand, and a weapon that had two small scythe looking weapons connected by a magically adjusting chain. The two weapons were small enough that they could be concealed rather easily, especially in wizarding robes.

After getting all of their weapons gathered up and put in bags Sessina looked around at her children. "Do you want go home for the day? Or do you want to go to the wand shop?" She asked while glancing at her watch. It was only twelve thirty. But getting up so early and getting measured like that had to have been exhausting for them…

"Wand shop!" They all said eagerly. They wanted to know what it was like to have a wand and what Ollivanders looked like.

"Alright, alright. I get it. You want to get your wands." She smiled and led her children down the alley to the wand shop. It was more hidden than the other shops and it had a spell on it that kept humans from seeing it. This was a wand shop for creatures after all.

Ryuu was thankful when he was able to see the shop. It meant he was a creature, even if he didn't really look it.

As they entered the shop an elderly woman, with long silver hair and big blue eyes, stepped out from a door behind the counter. "Hello. I'm Mrs. Ollivander. The one who makes the wands for our creature cliental, while my husband deals with the human side of things." She explained with a pleasant smile. Unlike the wand shop on Diagon the one on Knockturn didn't have any wands already waiting in boxes. No, in fact in this shop there was just the front room with the counter and chairs for people to sit in.

"Unlike with humans, whose wands can be made in mass and can just be tested until they find the right one, creatures' wands need to be specially created for each of them." Mrs. Ollivander told them. "I'll bring you all back to the back room and you'll find the materials needed for your wand. They'll be unique to you and will most likely only work for you." She looked the seven children over. "Who would like to go first?"

They all looked at each other and then started talking, to decide who would go first. Eventually Kiko got up and marched over to Mrs. Ollivander who then led her into the back room. After couple of minutes of standing around they all took a seat to wait. It took a while but finally Kiko came back out, looking a little dazed.

She turned to the other children, a slight glint in her eyes. "Who's next?"

Lissana hesitantly got to her feet and followed the woman into the back room. When she came out it was nearly the same as well Kiko excited the room, except Lissana looked a little thoughtful at whatever had just happened.

Before anyone else could react or do anything Shiko jumped to her feet and followed the woman into the back room. Once she entered the back room there was a high pitched squealing noise that made all of them flinch and cover their ears. After that it was quite. Shiko was gone longer than the other two and when she came out, she was grinning widely.

"Next?"

Ryuu got to his feet and followed her. Once in the back room he looked around, there were pieces of wood, feathers, hairs, claws, vials of stuff he wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were, and a few other things. "So… what do I do?" He asked curiously.

She smiled and set her hand on his shoulder. "Everything in this room can be used to create a wand. The wood is obvious and then most everything else is a core." She looked around. "What you need to do is reach out with your magic for the items that will make your wand." She told him. "Think you can do that?"

He nodded a little bit. "Yeah. I think I can." He looked around and then closed his eyes and let his magic and instincts guide him. He stopped when his hand came into contact with something long and somewhat smooth feeling. He picked whatever it was up but didn't open his eyes yet, it didn't feel right. Moving again he reached out and felt something else that was long and somewhat smooth. This time he did open his eyes and looked at the two branches in his hands. He looked up when Mrs. Ollivander took them from him.

"Yew and English Oak. Quite the combination." She said with a slight nod to herself. "Now go look for your core." She told him with a wave of her hand as she examined the two branches closely.

He turned back to the materials and closed his eyes again. This time his fingers came into contact with a feather, but like with the wood he didn't open his eyes and instead continued searching. If his eyes had been open he would have seen Mrs. Ollivander watching him with sharp eyes. He picked up something hard and round and frowned a little bit. Wasn't this supposed to be his core? But this felt almost like the woods had. Opening his eyes he saw a white, grey, and black feather first, then he saw a long dangerous looking fang in his other hand. "Wha-"

"Hippogriff feather and a basilisk fang. Hm. You're going to have a very powerful and protective wand Mr. Narga. That or a very deadly one. I'll have to keep my eyes on you." She told him while plucking the items from his hands.

The mostly human boy frowned a little as he looked at all of the items in her hands. "So… those will become my wand once you're done?"

"Yes. And I'm sure you will be happy with it." She set the items down and then laid a cloth with an elaborate rune circle on it. He then noticed there were three other clothes over what he presumed were the items that would become his sisters' wands. She then gestured for him to follow her out of the room. "Next?"

It went on like that until all of them had gotten their wand materials picked. They all wanted to have their wands now but knew that they would have to wait for them to be made. They just hoped it wouldn't take too long.

"All of your wands should be done by the day after tomorrow." Mrs. Ollivander told them. "My husband and I will be getting right on these. They all seem very interesting and I at least look forward to making them. I'll send a letter when they're all done." She promised with a smile.

"Thank you Mrs. Ollivander." Sessina said with a smile.

"No problem dear." She waved her off. "Now off with you. You want me to make those wands don't you?" She teased gently.

They all laughed a little before heading back home. The kids were all pretty tired from all of the excitement of the day, so they spent that evening either writing in their grimoires, playing quiet games with each other, or reading. It was nice and peaceful after the exciting day.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The Narga children were all full of excitement after they got their wands. They found them interesting and were eager to learn new magic with them. And of course everyone was curious what their siblings' wands were.

Hino's wand was eleven inches, cedar with dragon heartstring and unicorn hair. The wand was smooth and straight with little marking and carvings along the grip of the wand. It fit him well and he liked the way it felt in his hand. When he'd first picked it up it emanated a bout of colorful sparks from the end that formed little 3-D images of dragons and unicorns.

Rikka's wand was eleven and three fourths inches, rowan with phoenix feather and veela hair. The wand had an intricate handle, about half way up the length of the wand there was a darker colored band of wood. When she first picked it up it actually created a shield. It wasn't anything spectacular but the fact that the wand created a shield when she first picked it up _was_ spectacular.

Lissana's wand was nine inches, beech with a snow owl feather, not a snowy owl, a snow owl. A magical owl that had the ability to disappear like snow. The wand had carvings that looked Celtic that were lighter than the rest of the wood. When she first picked up the wand it shot out a column of flames.

Kiko's wand was twelve inches, pine with a griffin claw. Hers was the longest of her siblings and it was the thinnest, only about the width of her pinky with a thicker grip that was carved to look a bit like a snake wrapping around it. When she first picked it up little silvery snakes shot out of the end and slithered around in the air.

Shiko's wand was ten and three fourths inches, ebony and vine with a Kelpie hair core. Her wand was a deep rich black with gold vines going from the grip and fading a couple of inches before they reached the top. The moment she picked it up it created a bright light and made a loud bang. She could usually be seen twirling the wand between her fingers while she was doing something.

Zissa's wand was eight and a half inches, shorter than everyone else, made of pear and willow with a Pegasus feather core. The wand was an almost gold color with the two woods blended together seamlessly, the grip looked like a wing wrapped around the wand. She said it was even soft, kind of like feathers, but she wouldn't let anyone touch it. Which they all understood. They didn't really want anyone touching their wands either, even their siblings and mother. When she'd first picked it up it let out a musical sound that made them all smile.

Ryuu's wand was ten and one fourth inches, yew and English oak with a basilisk fang and hippogriff feather. It was a pale wand that started off darker at the grip and got paler, until it was stark white at the tip. The grip looked almost like it was made of snake scales and along the shaft there was a barely visible carving of a snake. When he first picked it up a green light shot out of the end and curled around his body in the form of a snake before disappearing.

Mr. and Mrs. Ollivander had both been mysterious talking about how they all seemed to be 'meant for something important' and they wouldn't elaborate what they meant by that, just smiling at all of them.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Sessina looked at the letters that had been delivered that morning. Her children were ten now and it was July. The letters were from Hogwarts, all seven of her children had been accepted into the school and would be going in the fall. If they wanted to. Part of her hoped her children wouldn't want to go, but at the same time she was sure that their curiosity would get the better of them and they would go.

"So it begins." She murmured while closing her eyes and waiting for her kids to come down for breakfast.

 **An: To my unnamed guest: Ryuu and his siblings will be going to Hogwarts, as indicated in this chapter but they won't all be in Slytherin, their personalities are too different for that.**

 **Please rate and review!**


	4. A Meeting on the Alley and Hogwarts

**An: Here's chapter three! I know you probably hated me after that cliffhanger but... it was just so tempting!**

 **So this chapter hasn't been beta'ed either... my beta just can't keep up with me. If someone would like to beta for me that would be great! Anyways, enjoy chapter 3!**

 **Chapter 3- Meetings on the Alley and Hogwarts**

Sessina watched as her children slowly made their way into kitchen, looking groggy and yawning. "Good morning." She said with a smile as they sat down.

"Good morning." They all muttered groggily.

She chuckled and after they had eaten some of their breakfast and woken up a little more, she waved her hand and their letters appeared next to their plates and bowls. "You all got accepted into Hogwarts." She explained to them as they opened their letters. "We'll need to go shopping for all of your school supplies before September first." She said while taking a sip of her coffee.

"We're going to get to go to Hogwarts?" Kiko asked with a grin.

"With humans?" Zissa asked a little worriedly as she read over her own letter and the list of what was needed for school.

"It says that students are only permitted a cat, owl, or toad." Lissana said with a frown as Nero, her Kingsnake, wrapped his body more around her upper arm.

"Don't worry. I'll send a letter to the headmaster explaining about your familiars. They wouldn't deny a child their familiar. It's not right." Sessina promised her children, making all of the relax knowing that they would be able to have their familiars with them. "Can someone hand me one of those lists? I'd like to see what I have to get all of you for school." Rikka handed hers over and then peeked over Kiko's shoulder to continue looking at the list of things they would need for school.

First-year students will require:

Uniform

Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)

One Plain Pointed Hat (Black)

One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)

Books

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment

1 Wand

1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring an Owl, a Cat or a Toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.

She raised an eyebrow at the list. "One winter cloak? Well you'll be getting more than that of course." She didn't want her little ones getting too cold. And even if they had developed a spell to keep them from wanting to hibernate it wouldn't work if their body temperature got too low. She'd also be getting them thicker robes for the winter, so she would probably be at least doubling the clothing items. They all already had dragon hide or basilisk gloves, in several styles, so she wouldn't have to worry about those. They had plenty of phials, since they were all at least decent at the potions she taught them and she had rewarded them all with their own phials, cauldrons, and stirring rods. She was just lucky she had decided to get them the standard size two or she would need to buy them all new cauldrons. "Well this shouldn't be too bad." She murmured to herself.

"These aren't too expensive are they Mama?" Hino asked while eyeing the list speculatively.

She chuckled at her son before ruffling his hair. "No dear. Nothing on here is too expensive. Even buying seven of each for all of you." She promised, though she was happy that she had decided to get a job a couple of years ago. This would take quite the chunk out of their savings, especially since her children were going to get the best of everything. She knew how those pureblood children could get and didn't want them looking down on her babies just because of their clothes or something equally unfair.

"Well we already have quite a few of these things…" Ryuu said thoughtfully as he stroked Que's head. "When are we going to go shopping?" He asked his mother curiously.

"I was thinking a week before school is due to start. That seems to be when most of the children do their school shopping." They all made a face at the thought of the crowds and she shushed them. "I know it's not ideal, going with all those people, but I think it'll be good for you. You may meet future classmates." She told them.

"Okay Mama." They all agreed hesitantly.

"I know, I know. I'm evil." She rolled her eyes as the seven children laughed a little at her joke.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The Narga children spent the time before school was due to start hanging out with their friends and reassuring them they would write at least once a week, which greatly reassured Ilno and Nol. The cyclops boys weren't looking forward to their friends being gone for months on end without seeing them. But the boys also wouldn't be able to go to Hogwarts. Cyclops weren't very adept at magic. They could do things with runes and what not, but their main talent was building and crafting, which was why most cyclops went into some kind of carrier that involved building or making something, like the Bronds and their weapon and armor shop.

When they had first told the boys they both frowned a little. "So we won't really see you while you're at school?" Ilno asked.

"We'll be back around Yule and for a little while in the spring. Then we'll be out of school during the summer." Ryuu reassured their friends.

"But it's not the same." Nol complained, looking on the verge of tears. "We won't see you every day. We won't be able to play every day!"

"We'll write you whenever we can." Lissana reassured him. "And even if we can't play every day that doesn't mean we won't be friends or can't talk and tell each other all about what we're doing."

"She's right. So don't worry. We'll be back before you know it!" Rikka wrapped her arms around both of the boys, making them smile a little bit.

"Okay. I guess we can agree to that. But we expect lots and lots of letters." Ilno insisted.

"You got it!" The Nargas all agreed, then they took turns giving each boy a pinky promise, it was the strongest of promises after all.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

When the day to go to Diagon finally arrived, Ryuu and his siblings wanted to all curl up in bed and not go. The Alley would be a mad house! All of those kids… There was a reason they avoided Diagon this time of year. But their mother had a point. They could meet future classmates and make friends before even getting to Hogwarts. So in the end they all dragged themselves out of bed and down to breakfast.

After eating and getting ready they stalled for a little longer before they were all ushered out onto the Alley by their mother and Remus. He came with them because he had been through all of this before when he had gone to Hogwarts, so he was a great asset to have. It would also help to keep all of the kids from getting lost in the crowd.

They made their way to the bookstore first and muscled their way to the section they needed. After buying seven copies of every book on the list (the clerk at the counter had been astounded) they decided it would be better to split up so that they could get around a bit easier.

Sessina took her five girls and Remus took the boys. When the werewolf had tried to recommend that they split it up a bit more evenly the Naga woman had stared at him for a moment before saying 'So you really want to help the girls buy underwear?' That had immediately shut the man up. Of course she had just been messing around, they weren't getting underwear on this trip, but the look on his face had totally been worth it.

Once the girls had headed off to… wherever it was they were going, Remus turned to the boys. "So, where would you like to go?" He asked them curiously.

The boys looked at each other and then their lists of items. "Where do they sell the telescopes and the brass scales?" Ryuu asked curiously.

"Follow me. They're at Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment." He explained as he led them down the Alley to the store. The boys spent some time looking at all of the items and at the different scales and telescopes. They eventually grabbed the items that were 'the best' in their opinion.

"The telescopes are for Astronomy right?" Hino asked while looking at his curiously, he was thinking of adding something to the telescope to make it more personalized.

"Yes. It's an interesting class that I think all of you will enjoy." He told them.

"It does seem interesting." Ryuu agreed. "Should we head to the robe shop now?"

"That's all we have left right?" Remus asked while pulling out the list Sessina had given him. It had notes on it of what to get and how much of each item was needed. Like with the robes they needed to get three normal and three extra thick robes. Also three winter cloaks each. He understood why she wanted all of her children to be warm for the winter.

He looked over at the boys. They were both in a pair of leather pants that were spelled to keep the wearer from being too warm but also from being too cold. Ryuu's were a dark brown color and Hino's were more of a tan color and they were both wearing loose silky shirts that muggles would think of people wearing in medieval times. Hino's was white and Ryuu's was red, the colors worked well with their skin tones. They both wearing boots, Ryuu's were made of dragon hide and Hino's were made of basilisk skin. Unlike many wizards and witches most creatures didn't wear wizarding robes, they much preferred clothes that were similar to muggle attire, but they would wear the more medieval, old fashioned, like clothes to help fit in a little better with Wizarding Society.

"Let's go." He led them down to Madam Malkin's to get fitted for their robes. There was someone already getting fitted so the boys turned to each other and did rock, paper, scissors until Ryuu won.

He stepped up on the little platform and the woman started measuring him. He glanced over at the other boy who was getting measured for his robes as well. "First year?" He asked curiously, thinking the boy was about his age. The other boy had platinum blond hair, pale porcelain skin, and when he turned to look at him his silver eyes shone in the light. _"He looks kind of like a prince from a fairytale."_ He thought with a curious tilt of his head.

"Yes. I assume you're a first year as well?" The blond asked, raising an aristocratic eyebrow.

"Yeah. I am. But I'm not too worried about classes and whatnot." He saw the shock flash across the boy's face before he was able to mask it. "I'm Ryuu Narga." He introduced himself.

"Pleasure. I'm Draco Malfoy." The blonde's eyes trailed over Ryuu curiously, like he was trying to pick apart a puzzle, he paused on Ryuu's unique hair and eyes. "What house are you hoping to get into? I'm going to be in Slytherin, of course." He added, seeming to be trying to test the other.

The blue and green eyed boy smirked a bit. "I'm also probably going to be in Slytherin. But I could be in Hufflepuff. I am quite loyal." He said thoughtfully.

Draco looked appalled. "Hufflepuff?" He asked.

Ryuu laughed. "Oh the look on your face. Totally worth it. No I don't think I am going to end up in Hufflepuff. I might be loyal but I don't think that's more dominate than my cunning." He told him with a grin. "So it seems we're going to be housemates."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that." He said with a scowl.

"Don't be like that Draco. I was just messing around." He snickered a little at the almost pout on the other boy's face. His scowl wasn't really covering it up either. There was something about this boy… like he was trying to restrain his actual reactions and what he was actually like. _"He's hiding behind a mask."_ He suddenly realized. _"Well we can't have that."_

The blond huffed. "Be that as it may I did not find it amusing." He told him.

"I don't believe that for a second." Ryuu told him. "I can see the amusement in your eyes."

"Then you must have issues with your sight Narga." He sneered with narrowed eyes.

He snickered in amusement. "You shouldn't call me by my last name. My brother and sisters are Narga as well. And you should know that I have five sisters and a brother, all in our year."

That threw Draco off. He stared blankly for a few moments before finally regaining his composure. "Seven of you? All in the same year? The same age?" He asked.

"Yes. They're sextuplets and I'm adopted." The blue and green eyed boy said, his smirk widening. "So we're all the same age and in the same year. I even celebrate my birthday with them. As if we were septuplets."

"Well it must be nice having so many siblings." He said, the sneer on his face almost looking sad.

"It is. No siblings?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"That's really none of your business, but no. I don't have any siblings." The silver eyed boy said while looking straight ahead, refusing to look at Ryuu.

"Well even if you don't have any siblings that doesn't mean you're alone. Where are your parents?" Ryuu asked, remembering that there wasn't anyone else in the waiting area, so where were Draco's parents?

"My mother is comparing wands and my father has more important things to do." He said haughtily.

"Comparing wands? Were you thinking of getting a wand from someplace else?"

"We were thinking about it. But she says Ollivander has good wands as well. That's where her and my father got their wands after all." The aristocrat explained.

"Okay. Well I got my wand from Ollivander and it's working perfectly for me. I think you would like a wand from there, Draco." The mostly human boy said with a slight shrug, trying not to disturb the woman who was measuring him.

"I never said you could use my given name." He said with narrowed eyes.

"No? Well I'm not going to call you Malfoy while you're calling me Ryuu. That would just be weird."

"Whoever said I would call you by your given name?" Draco asked, looking frustrated.

"But I believe I told you that calling me Narga would be foolish because of all of my siblings, who are all in our year." Ryuu reminded him.

"You know you're impossible right?" The blond asked while rolling his eyes, seeming to have mostly accepted that Ryuu was going to be calling him by his given name and not his family name.

"Of course. I do have six siblings that I've practiced arguing with. Believe me, Draco. You will never win a fight with me." He told him with a smirk.

"Alright boys. You're both done." One of the women (the one who had been measuring Draco?) said and they both stepped down to let the next customers go.

"You're quite confident with yourself aren't you?" Draco asked while pulling his summer cloak on over his clothes, which were pretty similar to Ryuu's, consisting of a pale green silk shirt, a pair of black leather pants, and what appeared to be dragon hide boots.

Ryuu snickered. "I have to be. Otherwise I'll be eaten alive by my family." He grinned at his brother who had stepped up onto the platform, making the Naga stick his tongue out.

The blond watched the two and then turned away just as his mother entered the shop. "I have to go." He looked back at Ryuu who was watching him curiously. "I'll see you at Hogwarts." He then quickly walked over to his mother and was ushered out of the shop.

"Hm." The mostly human boy hummed to himself as he watched the blond leave.

"I know that look." Hino said from where he was standing, letting the woman measure him. "You had the same look when Ilno and Nol moved in. What are you planning?"

"Oh nothing. Just finding out all of Draco's deep dark secrets that never see the light of day and that he himself ignores." He said thoughtfully as his brother rolled his eyes at his antics. "And becoming his friend of course." He smiled cheekily at the other boy.

"Whatever you say. Though he doesn't seem like the friendliest of people."

"Maybe not. But I think he's friendlier than he appears. He just needs to be pulled out from behind that mask of his." A Cheshire cat grin spread across the green and blue eyed boy's face. "I'll have him being himself in no time.

"You're scary when you get determined. You know that right?"

"Of course." His grin turned into a cheeky smile as he turned to his brother. "It's one of my best qualities."

"Whatever you say. Psycho." The golden eyed boy shook his head a little at his brother.

"Why thank you. I think that's one of the nicest things you've ever said to me." Ryuu said cheekily, though inside he was thinking over his interaction with Draco. _"He's hiding something. And I'm going to find out what."_ He sat down next to Remus who raised an eyebrow at him, he just waved him off. _"This is going to be quite fun."_ A grin slowly spread across his face. _"Really fun."_

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

"You're all packed? You all have your amulets and portkeys?" Sessina asked while looking around at all of her children as Remus chuckled at her frantic fluttering about. She was usually so composed. He was there to help with getting the kids on the train on time with as little fuss as possible.

"Yes Mama." They all chorused. The past couple of weeks they had all spoken English, even in the privacy of their own home, to get them used to speaking English rather than Parseltongue. They all also had amulets that put Occlemency shields around their minds so that no one could get in their heads. They were all training to do it themselves but they were still a bit too young to actually defend their thoughts, so they had amulets that would do it for them. Their family had too many secrets that they didn't want getting out. Mainly the fact that they weren't human but there were a few other things, like the fact that Ryuu used to be Harry Potter.

"Alright… you have food for your familiars? You haven't forgotten anything?"

"Mama we've all triple checked." Rikka reassured her. "We have everything. And if we don't then we'll owl you about it." Even if they didn't own an owl themselves the school had plenty of owls that they could borrow to send messages to their mother.

"Alright. Well… if you have everything then we should head out." She then gestured to the floo. It was the way most wizards and witches with a floo would get to platform 9 ¾ unless they had a cheaper way of getting there, floo powder was rather expensive after all.

It was a nearly impossible task getting nine people through the floo with all of their things. Thank Merlin for shrinking charms, they had shrunk everything except the snake tanks for easier storage. They didn't think it would be wise to shrink the snakes down with their tanks, especially since they were magical snakes, the magic could damage them in an irreparable way. As they stepped out of the floo and the kids got their first view of the impressive train they couldn't help but stare at it for a moment.

"Impressive isn't it?" Remus asked them and then looked over at Sessina who had the same look as her children, that's when he remembered she'd never been to Hogwarts so this was her first time seeing the train as well. "Alright everyone stop staring. We got here early for a reason remember?" He told them, snapping the Narga family out of their staring. "Come on. Let's get all of you kids a compartment. He wasn't sure they would all fit in one compartment but they would try.

The compartment they chose was towards the back of the train and luckily the children were still small enough that it could fit all seven of them comfortably. It would probably be a different story in the next couple of years but by then they would all probably have friends they would want to go sit with. After getting all of their trunks resized and put away they hugged the two adults and there was a round of teary goodbyes. Even Remus. He thought of these seven children as his pups, his family, just like most of the people on their street had become his pack. He never thought he'd have that again, not after three of his best friends were killed and his other friend sent to Azkaban after betraying the other three. Really the only thing that had kept him sane until he met his new family was knowing that Harry was alive, even though he had never been allowed to go and actually see the boy.

"You'll be back before you know it." Sessina said tearfully as she kissed each of their heads.

"You'll enjoy Hogwarts, I'm sure. Try not to destroy the castle alright? It's been standing for centuries and people generally enjoy learning there." The werewolf teased them.

"No promises. But we'll try and keep the destruction to a minimum." Ryuu teased with a watery smile. Even if they were more mature mentally than humans this was still the first time they would be away from their mother and all of their friends for such a long time, so they were all nervous and a little sad, even a little scared.

After a little bit more hugging they noticed that the platform was filling up and it was getting closer to the time for them to leave. So the two adults got off and stood on the platform, ready to wave goodbye when the train finally took off, which of course they did as the seven Narga children all tried to hang out the window and wave at the same time.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Once the train station was out of sight the seven children looked at each other, not quite sure what to do now. "So… who wants to play Exploding Snap?" Hino asked while taking out his deck.

"Sure." Rikka grinned as Hino started setting the game up.

"Wizarding Chess?" Ryuu asked Lissana with a grin of his own while taking out their chess set.

"No. I'm just going to read." The light brown haired girl said while pulling a book out of her trunk to read.

"I'll play with you." Shiko said eagerly, making everyone groan. Whenever Ryuu and Shiko played chess together they were all subjected to listening to the two insult each other for at least half an hour.

"You're on. Sis."

"I'm going to destroy you. Bro."

The other five children all made faces, they were already getting serious (calling each other sis and bro) and they hadn't even started yet. This was going to be a violent game.

And forty-five minutes later they were proven right. The game had caused both of them to use some choice words that would have gotten them grounded in a second if their mother had heard them and had ended with Shiko flipping the whole board over when she realized she couldn't win.

"Well I need a walk." Ryuu said calmly while getting to his feet and stretching.

Shiko snorted as she leaned back in her seat. "Well I need a nap. Anyone wakes me and I'll bite them." She threatened, even though they all knew it was an empty one. She would never risk poisoning one of them.

Before Ryuu could leave the compartment Hino set his hand on his brother's shoulder. "You're not actually just going for a walk are you?" He asked curiously.

"Of course not." He snorted at the thought. "I'm going to look for Draco." He grinned cheekily.

"You're going to torment that poor human aren't you?"

"Whatever do you mean? I just want to see my new friend." The mostly human boy said, looking far too innocent for it to mean anything but trouble.

"Fine. Go cause chaos. Just be sure you can get out of it." Hino said while rolling his eyes.

"Don't I always?" Then he was gone, making his way down the train with his hands in his pockets.

He peeked into a few compartments, so far only seeing older students. _"I'm starting to think we're the only first years on this train."_ Of course he knew that wasn't the case, it just felt like it. So when he opened a compartment and saw two boys about his age he couldn't help but introduce himself.

"Hello. I'm Ryuu Narga." He introduced as he looked around their compartment with a raised eyebrow. It looked like they had bought the entire candy cart and then eaten it. He then looked at the boys occupying the candy littered compartment. One of them had rather bright red hair, a pale face covered in freckles, and pale blue eyes. The other boy had messy black hair, a pale complexion, green eyes that were about the same shade as his green eye, and now that he looked, he only looked about nine, not eleven.

"Hello." The dark haired boy got to his feet and held out his hand. "I'm Harry Potter."

Ryuu stared at the boy. _"That's not possible. I'm Harry Potter."_ He thought as he narrowed his eyes, but before he could seem too rude he shook the other boy's hand. He looked at the other boy's forehead and saw the scar that he himself currently had a glamour over. _"Something's going on here, and whatever it is, I don't like it."_ Seemed he had another puzzle to solve, and he was going to solve this one no matter how long it took. "Pleasure to meet you." He turned to the redhead with a curious look.

"Ron Weasley." He introduced but didn't offer his hand.

 _"_ _Well he's rude…"_ "Nice to meet you too, Weasley." He looked between the two boys as 'Harry Potter' hesitantly sat down. "Well see you two around." He then left a slight frown on his face. _"I'll have to keep an eye on Mr. 'Harry Potter'."_ He was so lost on thought he nearly ran into a bushy haired girl who was coming down the aisle. At the last second he managed to avoid crashing into her and she looked up at him, seeming to come out of her own thoughts.

"Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost his." She told him.

"No. I haven't." _"She seems about as rude as that Weasley boy. Not even introducing herself."_ "I have to go." He slipped around her before she could say anything else and made his way down the train, looking for Draco.

He did eventually find the blond, who was actually making his way down the corridor, coming his way. "Draco!" Ryuu said in an overly excited voice that was so fake it made the other boy wrinkle his nose.

"Ryuu. You shouldn't act like some overly excitable Hufflepuff. It's unbecoming." Draco said while rolling his eyes, making Ryuu grin at him.

"True. But sometimes it's fun to act like an idiot." He looked at the two boys behind the blond and raised an eyebrow. "And your friends are?"

"Ah, my apologies. I should have introduced you sooner. This is Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe. They're parents are friends with my parents so we've known each other since we were children." Draco said while gesturing to the two behemoths behind him. "Crabbe, Goyle, this is Ryuu Narga." He introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you boys." Ryuu said with a charming smile. "Though until we get to know each other a little better call me Narga or Ryuunosuke." When he saw the confused looks his smile turned into a wide grin. "My full name is Ryuunosuke. Ryuu is a nickname reserved for people close to me. Or that I deem worthy." He looked at Draco when he said this and winked, making the blond jerk back a little in surprise and a slight blush to come to his cheeks before he schooled his features.

"Ryuu here is a bit of a freak but he's most likely going to be in Slytherin with us so we might as well get used to him." Draco told the two boys behind him.

"So where are the three of you heading looking like a specialized pursuit unit?" Ryuu asked with a raised eyebrow. At the blank looks he rolled his eyes. "Purebloods really should try to learn a little about Muggles. They're actually very developed. A pursuit unit is part of Muggle military, it's a small specialized group that takes on specialized missions." He explained.

The blond flushed a little in embarrassment. "We heard Potter was on the train. We were going to go talk to him."

"Ah. I talked to him. He seems polite, he's hanging out with an extremely rude redhead, not really worth your time. Believe me." He leaned against the wall of the train frowning a little bit as he thought of the fake Harry Potter.

Draco frowned. "Well I'd rather go see for myself." And there that mask was again. That 'I want to do one thing but have to do another' mask.

"Fine. Whatever you say." He pushed himself off of the wall and turned to lead them to Potter and Weasley's compartment. "This way." He threw over his shoulder at them to make sure they were actually following him. He didn't look at them as he led them where they wanted to go, he was too deep in thought. _"Draco just gets more and more interesting. I really do wonder what's up with him. His home life maybe?"_ He paused in front of the compartment they were heading to and opened it. "Hello again." He said to the two boys inside who jumped at the sudden intrusion. Ryuu stepped out of the way as Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle stepped in.

Potter and Weasley both got to their feet looking confused and Weasley looked suspicious. "Hello. I'm Draco Malfoy." Draco held his hand out to Potter.

"Malfoy? As in the son of that follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Ron asked in disgust. "You're probably just like your father aren't you?"

The blonde's eyes went cold as he glared at the redhead. _"Oh? Are we about to see something real from Draco?"_ Ryuu wondered curiously.

"And who are you? Red hair? And a second-hand robe? You must be a Weasley." He sneered, his eyes looking like silver flames.

 _"_ _Hm. He looks like he wants to say more. But he's restraining himself. Interesting."_ The blue and green eyed boy thought, though when he saw Weasley glare and rear back, getting ready to throw a punch, he decided to step in. Before the boy could hit Draco Ryuu caught his fist. "Weasley, Draco, that's enough. No one wants to get in trouble before we even get to school do they?" He asked while looking between the two boys.

Weasley yanked back glaring. "Whatever." He muttered as Draco composed himself and took a step back.

"You're right." The blond agreed and then looked at Potter who was frowning a little bit at them. "You could make better friends." He told him.

"I think I've already made the best kind of friend." The green eyed boy said with a glare.

 _"_ _You mean a rude redhead with a short temper? That sounds like a healthy friendship."_ Ryuu thought while rolling his eyes. "Well whatever you think is best Potter." He turned to Draco and the two behemoths (he was starting to think that would be the only thing he'd be calling them from now on). "Let's go."

"Running away Narga? A coward?" Weasley yelled after them.

Ryuu paused and then chuckled, low and menacing before turning and smiling at the boy. "A coward? That's what you think I am? Only an idiot would think that walking away is something only cowards do. But of course maybe I'm expecting too much of you. I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip to Hogwarts." His smile turned into an evil grin that made both boys stiffen.

Once they left the room the mostly human boy hummed to himself. "I think we've just made some enemies. How unfortunate." He let out a sigh as Draco frowned at him.

"Unfortunate?" The blond raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course. One of them is the Boy-Who-Lived," he almost snorted but managed to restrain himself, "not a real good enemy to have. As for Weasley I don't really care, didn't really like that kid anyways, but making enemies before even making it off the train? I find that unfortunate." He looked out one of the windows. "I need to go get changed." He looked at the three boys in front of him. "I think you need to as well." He nodded to their attire. "I'll see you when we get off the train. Maybe I'll introduce you to my siblings." He said with a cheeky smile before quickly making his way back to his siblings.

"We were wondering if you were ever coming back." Kiko said with a snort as she threw his robes at him. "You would have gotten in trouble if you didn't wear those."

"Why do you think I came back?" He smiled cheekily before pulling the robe on over his clothes and adjusting it so that it wasn't crooked. He didn't see any reason to not wear his normal clothes under it since it was loose enough for it. "So? Did you have fun while I was gone?"

"It was mostly uneventful." Hino said while pulling on his pointed black hat. "What about you? Did you cause chaos?"

"Of course." He frowned, his eyes narrowing. "And I met Harry Potter."

They all looked at him. "That's not funny Ryuu. You're Harry Potter." Lissana said with a frown of her own.

"That's what I thought. But apparently someone got a stand-in. I don't like it." He said as Que and Megami slithered up his legs to their normal spots, Megami around his neck and Que around his arm. "I also made him and his friend my enemies." He added while running a hand through his hair. "Before you say anything it wasn't my intention. But that Weasley boy… something about him rubs me the wrong way."

"Ryuu… The things you manage to get into." Rikka said while covering her face with one of her hands. "Are you a trouble magnet or something?" She asked while looking up at him.

"It's a gift." The mostly human boy said with a shrug as he sat down and pulled on his own hat. "How do witches and wizards get anything done with these things on?" He asked while flicking the brim of the hat. "And these clothes… jeez." He tugged a bit at the robes. "They're way too lose. You can't really move properly in these things." He pulled up the sleeves on his right arm to make sure his wand holster was secure on his arm.

"Tell me about it." Kiko muttered while adjusting her robe a little more, trying to get comfortable.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

When the train stopped they all filed off, the first years had all been told to leave their things in their compartments and it would all be gathered up by a teacher later. All of the Narga kids left all of their things, except for their familiars. They wouldn't leave their snakes to be collected by a teacher.

After they got off the train Ryuu found Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle and waved them over. "I assume these are your siblings?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. They're just random people I'm hanging out with." Ryuu said sarcastically.

"Shut up." The blond said with a glare before remembering his manners and turning to the other six Nargas who were all suppressing laughter. "I'm Draco Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." He said politely.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lissana."

"Hino."

"Shiko."

"Kiko."

"Rikka."

"Z-Zissa."

Just as they got done introducing themselves all of the first years were called over by a large man, who had to be part giant, who said his name was Hagrid. They all walked over to the giant man who led them down to the lake where there were a bunch of boats waiting for them. "No more th'n four to a boat!" The large man hollered at them.

Ryuu climbed into a boat with Zissa and Hino, then looked expectantly at Draco. "Well come on Draco. The boats aren't going to wait forever." He teased.

The blond huffed but climbed into the boat and raised an eyebrow. "Happy now?" He said sarcastically.

"Very." He said cheekily.

"I apologize for my brother. He's insane and you managed to catch his attention. You won't be getting rid of him anytime soon." Hino shook his head a little bit at his brother.

"Now, now Hino is that any way to treat your brother? You wound me with your words." The blue and green eyed boy said with a pout.

"Right. I wound you about as much as a fly buzzing around your head." He said with a snort.

"Well at least you know your place." Ryuu teased.

"Maybe you'd like to take a swim in the lake? It looks rather nice."

"Only if you want to come with me." He said with a wide, almost frightening, grin.

"If you start trying to knock each other into the lake we're all going to fall in." Zissa told them. "And you know I'm not a very good swimmer."

Both boys paused in their 'argument' and looked at their sister. "We wouldn't let anything bad happen to you Zissa." Hino promised while wrapping an arm around her.

"Yeah. We were just joking around." Ryuu promised while patting her kneed reassuringly.

Draco snorted a little, making the three siblings look at him questioningly. "It's just that your sister, Zissa, seems to have you both wrapped around her little finger." He told them.

"Well she is kind of the baby of the family." Ryuu said with a shrug.

Hino snorted. "Aren't you the youngest of us Ryuu? You just turned eleven at the end of July after all." He reminded him.

"Shut up! I'm pretending that my birthday is the same as the rest of yours remember? So no mentioning that other birthday." He said with slightly narrowed eyes.

"It's only like four and a half months. Calm down." The Naga boy said soothingly, he knew the birthday thing was a sensitive topic, but it was always a way to get a rise out of Ryuu, so sometimes he just couldn't resist poking those buttons.

The mostly human boy huffed and leaned back a bit on his bench before looking over at Draco. "Just so you know, you didn't hear anything. My birthday is April sixth." He told the blond.

"April sixth. I'll keep that in mind. Mine is June fifth." The silver eyed boy told him, looking a bit thoughtful. "So you're all a bit on the older side hm? You'll be turning twelve before the end of the year."

"Yeah. It was either being on the older side or the younger side, personally I think being on the older side is better." Ryuu said with a shrug, ignoring the fact that the main reason they waited to enroll until now was because of him and how he was younger than his siblings.

"Look! The castle!" Someone from another boat yelled, distracting them from their conversation to look at the castle.

"Wow." Hino breathed as he looked up at the magnificent building.

Ryuu stared at the large castle and felt his heart clench a little bit. _"My birth parents went to this school. They learned here, ran around the halls. And I can't even ask anyone about them because of that fake Harry Potter."_ He let out a sigh and shook those thoughts away. There was no reason getting all angry and annoyed at the boy. He doubted the other even knew he wasn't Harry Potter, otherwise he would probably be trying to milk the fame for all it was worth, and that boy obviously wasn't doing that. So he decided to withhold judgement on the kid for now.

Once the boats stopped, they all climbed out and made their way into the castle, following Hagrid to the Entrance Hall.

"So I was wondering." Draco said with a slight frown, making Ryuu raise an eyebrow. "What's with the snake necklace?" He nodded to Megami.

The blue and green eyed boy stared for a moment before he started laughing. "Megami isn't a necklace." The snake lifted her head, making Draco jump a little in surprise. "She's one of my familiars." He raised his left hand and pulled back his sleeves, revealing Que, who hissed in annoyance at the sudden light. "This is Que. And as I said before this is Megami." He said gesturing to the snake around his throat.

"Your familiars? And you were allowed to bring them?" The blond asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you can't separate a child from their familiar, it could be harmful to them and their magical development. We just had to ask permission before coming. And by, we, I mean my siblings and myself. They all have snake familiars as well." He explained.

"All of you? Seriously?" Draco couldn't mask the awe from his voice or his face as he stared at the snakes. But before he could ask any of the questions he wanted to there was a scream. They looked up and saw several ghosts drifting through the hall, startling several of the other students, mainly those who had never seen a ghost before.

"First years." A stern voice called, making all of them turn to look at a woman who was standing at the top of the stairs and watching them. "This way please." They all walked up to her and got lined up in alphabetical order. Once they were all lined up and the teacher, who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, had explained how they would be lined up in the Great Hall, they were led into the large room, where all of the other students were. Everyone was of course looking around excitedly and at the ceiling that was enchanted to reflect the sky above. Ryuu looked around at the four house tables as all of the students were watching them curiously, though those at the Slytherin table seemed to be analyzing them, trying to find the snakes in the group of children.

Once they were all standing in front of the head table, where the teachers were sitting, their attention was drawn to a stool that had an old and tattered hat sitting on top of it. Even Ryuu jumped a little when a tear in the hat opened up and started to sing. _"Well that wasn't creepy at all."_ He thought sarcastically, though he did clap with everyone else when the hat finished its song. He also stood polite while watching the other students got sorted into their houses.

Draco got Slytherin easily. The hat had barely touched his head before putting him in the house of snakes.

Then McGonagall called out, "Narga, Hino," and he tuned in, watching as his brother sat down on the stool and put the hat on his head. A little bit later the hat cried out, "Hufflepuff!" Hino got to his feet and made his way over to his new house table, but didn't sit down, he stood and watched.

"Narga, Kiko." Kiko walked up to the stool looking a little nervous but there was excitement in her eyes. It didn't take the hat long to yell, "Gryffindor!"

"Narga, Lissana." Lissana took a deep breath and walked up to the stool. The hat had barely touched her head before crying out, "Ravenclaw!"

"Narga, Rikka." By this point they could tell that the whole school was shocked by how many Nargas there were. Rikka plopped onto the stool while quickly putting the hat one. "Gryffindor!"

"Narga, Ryuunosuke." Ryuu blinked briefly before walking up to the stool and putting the hat on his head. _"There really are a lot of you."_ The hat whispered in his mind. _"And I see that you're the real Harry Potter. How interesting."_

 _"_ _You won't tell anyone right?"_ He asked, really not wanting anyone to know that little fact.

 _"_ _Of course not. Just like I won't tell anyone what your siblings are. Now! Let's see where you should go. Hm. Well you're very loyal. You're also smart and enjoy learning. You have bravery but you're not all that reckless, just the normal kind of reckless. And you're cunning. My, my, you are quite difficult to place. But I see you would like to be in Slytherin. You do know that He-Who-Must-"_

 _"_ _Please don't say the whole thing. It's too long. And I know he was in Slytherin and that he killed my birth parents. I don't care. Just because one evil guy was in that house doesn't mean they're all evil."_

 _"_ _You are also wise. Well then I best send you on your way. Good luck in,"_ "Slytherin!"

He got to his feet and headed to the house of snakes, a slight smirk on his face.

"Well what do you know? You did make it." Draco said with a smirk of his own.

"Did you ever doubt it?" Ryuu turned back to the sorting to watch his sisters finish up their sorting.

Shiko strutted up to the stool, a confident smirk on her face. The hat was on her head for a little while until it called out, "Slytherin!" She jumped off the stool and made her way over to her brother, her eyes alight with mischief.

They both turned to watch Zissa who was looking nervous and worried as she walked up to the stool. The hat wasn't on her head for very long before it cried out, "Hufflepuff!'

"Your family has the entire school covered." Draco said with a shake of his head as all of the Narga children finally sat down, they had all remained standing until they'd all been sorted.

"Well that was the plan. We're going to be taking over the school, didn't you know?" Ryuu asked with a smirk.

They all looked up when they heard Potter's name be called. He ended up in Gryffindor, which made the whole house explode with cheers and yells.

"Well they're all going to end up with big heads." Ryuu muttered. "Just because they have 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'." He rolled his eyes, wondering how everyone would react if they knew that the real 'Savior of the Wizarding World' was actually in Slytherin and wasn't completely human. It would probably cause some kind of uproar or something.

"Yeah tell me about it." Draco muttered. "From what I understand from the older students, Gryffindors already had big heads. Now that's going to be even worse."

"Well we can at least count on two Gryffindors to not act like complete idiots." Shiko said thoughtfully, when she got looks from some of the other classmates she raised an eyebrow. "Our sisters. Rikka and Kiko. Even if their brave and reckless, they're not idiots. They won't hold the same prejudice towards our house." She smirked. "Besides, they like snakes. They both have a snake as a familiar after all." That got some surprised looks but then Dumbledore was giving his beginning of term speech and they all turned to look at him.

After he finished telling them how their house was their family (that made all of the Narga children scowl in annoyance since they were spread out throughout the four houses), about all of the rules, like how the third floor was off limits and the Forbidden Forest was, obviously, forbidden, they were able to eat.

"Mm The food here is pretty good." Ryuu said thoughtfully.

"Eh. Everything is a little too cooked for me." Shiko said with a pout, even though it looked like her steak was still raw enough to get up and walk away, he supposed it was more cooked than their mother usually made their food.

"Watch it Shiko. You're letting your freak side show." Ryuu warned her, she just stuck her tongue out at him as she went back to her food.

They talked with their new housemates, Theodore Nott was pretty nice, but the one that worried Ryuu the most was Blaise Zabini because he hit it off with Shiko right away. Most of the girls kind of got on his nerves but Daphne Greengrass was interesting, her ice mask didn't detract from that, if anything it made her that much more interesting.

Ryuu was grinning, his entire house was full of mystery and they were all puzzle that he couldn't wait to figure out. _"These next few years should be fun."_

"You're going to make everyone angry aren't you?" Shiko asked with a snicker.

"What makes you think that? I'm not going to anger _everyone_." He smirked at her and she rolled her eyes.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

After the feast the new Slytherin students were led down to the dungeons by the upper years. When they reached a blank wall a prefect turned to the first years. "This is the entrance to our dorm. The password is 'Salazar's fate'. Remember that, because you can't get in without it." He told them before leading them into their new dorm room.

The room was done in greens and silvers. There were several chairs and couches around a fire all done in green with silver trim, the carpet was a deep forest green with silver in areas throughout it, and one whole wall was glass that led into a view of the lake. There were three halls, Ryuu assumed that one led to the girls' dorms, and one led to the boys' dorm but the third he had no idea where it could go.

The door to the dorm opened again and a man with longish black hair and black eyes walked in. He looked over the students and then at the first years. "I am Severus Snape, your head of house. I am the potions teacher here, you will address me as Professor Snape." His dark and cold eyes softened slightly as he looked over the first years. "As Slytherin's the rest of the houses will likely shun you. I am not saying all of them will do this but many will, and as the outcasts of the school this means that your years here at Hogwarts will be harder than the rest of theirs. You may come and talk to me about anything, I am your teacher but also your head of house, and as your head of house that means I am here to help and guide you." He looked to the older years, all of whom straightened up a bit. "As always look after the first years and each other." He looked back at the first years. "Welcome to the house of snakes. Have pride in what house you were placed in and don't let the rest of the school dictate your next seven years here.

"The first year girls' dorm rooms are through the door to the left up on the fourth floor. The boys' dorm rooms are through the door on the right on the fourth floor. The door in the middle leads to private sitting rooms to allow you all to have your privacy when you want to talk with someone of the opposite sex since the dorms are warded against boys entering the girls' dorm and girls entering the boys' dorms." Snape explained to them. "If you ever need to talk to me I can usually be found in my office or classroom. I hope you all enjoy your time here." He then turned and left the dorm.

Ryuu hummed thoughtfully as he watched their head of house leave. "Well the next seven years should be fun." He said with a snicker as he stretched. "I'm going to head up to bed. I'll see you tomorrow Shiko."

"See you tomorrow." She smiled as he headed towards the door on the right, though he paused to look curiously at Draco. "You going to stay down here a while longer?" He asked.

The blond hummed thoughtfully before shrugging a bit. "I do want to know what our living arrangements are going to be for the next seven years. And where my things are."

The two made their way up to the fourth floor. There were six doors, all leading to different rooms, there were three doors on either side of the hall. They both exchanged looks before checking each of the rooms for their things. "Well this is my room." Ryuu called when he found his things. "Find your stuff yet?" He asked while leaning against his doorframe.

"Yeah." Draco looked out from the door across from Ryuu's. "Does your room have a wall that's completely made of glass and looks out into the lake?" He asked curiously.

"I do." Ryuu said with a slight tilt of his head. "I like it." He grinned a little bit, he liked the way his room was set up, with the large four poster bed, with green sheets and hangings, a wardrobe made of dark mahogany wood, and a door that led to his own bathroom. "What about you? Like your room?" He asked.

For a moment, Draco looked like he was going to say something negative or snide, but then he looked around, as though looking to make sure no one else was there. "I like it." He looked away from the green and blue eyed boy while running his fingers through his hair.

 _"_ _An actual honest answer. I think I'm finally getting to him."_ He grinned a bit to himself. "I'll see you in the morning Draco. I am actually pretty tired." Ryuu admitted. "And I'd really rather not be groggy for our first day of classes."

"Yeah. I understand. I'm probably going to be doing the same." The blond watched him for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ryuu."

"See you tomorrow Draco." Ryuu walked into his room and closed the door. He looked at it for a moment and then started hissing spells at the door. Mainly wards too keep others from coming in, and if they did come in they would get stunned, he figured that was the safest bet, stunning rather than something more… harmful.

After adjusting the wards just how he wanted them he nodded a little to himself and then headed over to his trunk to start unpacking. He hung up his school robes and then put away the rest of his clothes in the wardrobe. He put his alarm clock on his nightstand along with a magical lamp that he had gotten from Ilno and Nol for his last birthday. He decided he would put all of his books away tomorrow after classes, whenever those ended.

He got changed into his pajamas, a t-shirt and a pair of plain black pants. He crawled into his bed and stared at the top of his canopy bed, he immediately realized it was too quiet. He was used to hearing his brother breathing or his quiet snores, this silent room was just too quiet!

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Ryuu." He muttered to himself as he pulled the blankets up over his head and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long night.

 **An: Rate and Review! And if you have anything you want to comment on, or any suggestions I read all of the reviews I get so whatever you say will be taken into account!**


	5. First Week, Gringotts Has a Problem

**An: Hey guys! Know the update was a little later than usual but I do have other things to do than write my Fanfiction all day, even if that's all I want to do. This chapter is a little rough and jumbled, hope it isn't too bad for you, next chapter should be better.**

 **So again, hasn't been beta'ed. Bare with it please.**

 **Chapter 4- First Week, Gringotts Has Got a Problem, and a Redheaded Gryffindor**

The next morning Ryuu woke to the sound of his alarm and he groaned. "Ugh." He sat up and stretched. Pulling himself out of bed he went to his bathroom and did his morning routine. After his shower he made his way back into his room with a towel wrapped around his waist and picked his clothes for the day. After pulling his cloths on he looked over at his clock, 6:47. He still had a while until breakfast so he grabbed his messenger bag and started organizing his books.

Almost an hour latter there was a knock on his door. "Are you awake in there Narga?" He heard Draco call.

Ryuu pulled on his robe and then opened his door while raising an eyebrow. "I thought we talked about this Draco."

"Shut up." The blonde rolled his eyes. "Come on. We should get to breakfast. We're getting our schedules at breakfast."

"Hear that from an upper year?"

"Of course." They made their way out of the dorm and towards the Great Hall and took a seat at their table.

Ryuu yawned and Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't sleep so well last night. I'm not used to such a quiet room." He admitted.

"I guess that's understandable. It's a new place and it can be hard to adjust to that. I had some difficulties getting to sleep myself." He admitted while taking a drink of his orange juice.

Shiko walked over to them and sat down gracefully in her seat. "I'm beat. I got like no sleep last night." She complained.

"You don't look it." The mostly human boy promised her.

"Well that's because I'm not letting it show. Honestly I just want to go back to my room and sleep for the rest of the day." She took a bite of her eggs and then a sip of her tea.

"You'll be fine." Ryuu promised her with a snicker.

She snorted and shook her head a little bit. "Whatever you say."

Draco shook his head at the two siblings. "The two of you are going to give me headaches aren't you?"

"Of course." They both said at the same time.

"I should have run away the first time I met Ryuu." The blond muttered to himself.

"Duh. But you were too ignorant to realize it. You poor soul." Shiko said with mock sympathy, a grin on her face.

"Don't listen to her Draco. I'm fabulous to be around and you know it." The mostly human boy said with a smirk.

"Right." The blond rolled his eyes at his friend. "Fabulous." He said sarcastically.

Ryuu rolled his eyes at both of them and went back to his breakfast while pretending to sulk. "My friend and sister are so mean to me." He muttered softly.

"Oh quit the fake pouting. It's unbecoming of you brother." The Naga girl told him while rolling her eyes.

Just then Professor Snape came walking down the table passing out school schedules. "Do try to get to your classes on time." He told them, looking and sounding rather cold, but after the night before they all knew it was an act.

Ryuu looked over the schedule curiously. Since it was a Monday they had History of Magic first period, then a free period, and after lunch they had Transfiguration. Then Tuesday they had Herbology first, then Defense Against the Dark Arts, then the rest of their day was free. On Wednesday they had Charms in the afternoon and then Astrology at midnight. Thursday they only had Flying at 3:30 so that would be a good day to do homework and revision since there was only the one class. Then Friday they had a double Potions lesson, first and second period, then the rest of the day was free.

"This doesn't seem too bad." Ryuu said thoughtfully. "We have most of Thursday free and then Friday we only have potions."

"I think we should plan to study on Thursdays and Fridays, that way our weekends can be mostly free." Shiko said while taking a bite of her eggs.

"I agree." The green and blued eyed boy said with a slight nod. "We really should try and stay ahead."

"You two sound like Ravenclaws." Draco muttered with a shake of his head.

"We do have a sister in Ravenclaw, and she got us all in the habit of getting out work done. It's really a good idea, that way you get all of your stuff done in a timely fashion and you're not scrambling to get it done at the last minute." Ryuu said with a shrug. "Would you rather be trying to do all of your homework the day before it's do?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Alright, I get it. We'll study and get all of our work done throughout the week." The blond shook his head a little bit at them. "Better to be ahead than behind." He agreed.

"Glad you see it our way." Shiko smirked at him.

Ryuu checked his watch. "Well we have about forty-five minutes before History. What do you say we go and try to find the room? Because the school is way too big and I'd really rather not be late on our first day. We should probably try to find all of our classrooms later today."

"I heard that the staircases upstairs like to move." Shiko said while wrinkling her nose a little bit. "How are we supposed to find where we're going when the school itself changes?" She asked while letting out a groan.

"That's why I want to find our classes beforehand, that way we can try and figure out how to get to our classes no matter what the building does." Ryuu stretched and then got to his feet. "Shall we?"

"You're both over achievers." Draco got to his feet while rolling his eyes. "I should really try to get away from you people while I still can."

"You really think it'll be that easy to get away from us Draco?" The mostly human boy asked with a smirk. "Because we're not letting you get away." He told him.

The blond shook his head a little bit. "So I'm stuck with you?"

"Of course." Ryuu grinned and then ran ahead of them making his way to the floor that the History of Magic classroom was supposed to be on. "But if you really wanted us to leave you alone we will." He called back with a smile. _"Though honestly I don't think you'll ever want us to leave you alone. Not permanently anyways. But I could be wrong."_ He smirked a bit to himself.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

When they found the room they found that they weren't the first ones there. Lissana was standing there with a couple of other Ravenclaws. When she noticed her siblings she smiled and waved a little.

"Hey." Ryuu greeted as Shiko wrapped an arm around the other girl's shoulders. "How was your night?" He asked her curiously.

She shrugged a bit. "It was fine. Not too bad. Though it was hard trying to get to sleep in a new place." She admitted.

"How is your dorm set up?" Shiko asked curiously. "And I don't mean that in a 'how is your common room set up'. I just want to know what kind of room you're sleeping in."

Lissana smiled a little and then pulled out a piece of parchment and used the wall to start drawing. "It's a little hard to explain so I'll just draw it for you." She explained when she saw the looks she was getting from her siblings. "Here." She handed the parchment to them and they looked over the diagram their sister had drawn.

The room was round with the beds set back into nooks in the wall with a wardrobe by the head of the bed and a desk by the foot. There was a window over the bed that over looked the grounds (or so they assumed). The wardrobe and desk did a pretty good job of cutting the beds off from the rest of the room but there were also curtains that would help add to their privacy.

"So… you're in the same room as your year mates?" Shiko asked curiously.

"Yeah… aren't you?" Lissana asked with a confused frown.

"No. We all have our own rooms, we only share a floor with our year mates." Ryuu explained with an amused smile.

"Lucky." The Ravenclaw girl grumbled. "Having all that space to yourselves." She mock glared at Shiko who grinned back at her. "Well nothing that can be done about it. Have you talked to any of the others yet?"

"No. You're the first." Shiko told her with a slight shrug. "How about you? Talked to anyone else?"

"No. I haven't either. I didn't get a chance this morning."

"Too preoccupied with the new school and everything?" Ryuu asked. "Same here. We are away from home for the first time and a little preoccupied with everything. We'll all have to meet up with them soon."

"Of course. They're our bother and sisters. We can't not talk to them just because we're in different houses now." Lissana said, almost letting out a hiss before she caught herself and clicked her tongue instead.

"That would just be stupid." Shiko said while rolling her eyes.

By this point the rest of their classmates had shown up and were milling about and talking to each other. When the bell rang they all went in and found their seats. Ryuu sat between Draco and Shiko and Shiko sat between Ryuu and Lissana, on Lissana's other side was another Ravenclaw girl that seemed to have become her friend already.

As they were waiting for the professor a ghost floated through the wall, making all of them jump a little bit in surprise. They figured having a ghost for a teacher would be great, because he had lived history, or at least part of it, but then he had introduced himself and started actually teaching them.

Five minutes into the class they all knew that Professor Binns, as he had introduced himself, was a terrible teacher. Not even half way into the class all of the students were fighting to stay awake. Lissana had her History book out and was reading it, Shiko had nodded off on her shoulder and was drooling a little bit. Ryuu had given Draco an explanation of what hangman was to Draco and they were playing that to pass the time and keep themselves awake.

"Merlin that was awful!" Draco said as they were making their way back to their dorms in the dungeon.

"You don't need to tell me that." Shiko muttered while trying to rub the sleep lines off of her face.

"Reading the book is probably the only way we're going to get any good marks in that class." Ryuu muttered while stretching.

"I didn't think goblin rebellions could even _be_ boring. But Binns managed it somehow." The blond muttered with a shake of his head as they all laughed a little at that.

"Well we'll figure it out. We have Transfiguration after lunch right?" Shiko asked as they entered their common room. They both nodded and she stretched. "Alright. Well I'm going to take a nap. If I'm not ready to leave by the time lunch starts, send someone to wake me. See ya boys at lunch." She then turned and made her way into the girls' dorm to go take a nap.

"I'm starting to wonder if she's worth it." Ryuu muttered with a slight shake of his head.

"Worth what?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Worth telling the hat to put me in Slytherin and not another house." He told him with a long suffering sigh.

"Don't even Narga. This is the house you belong in and you know it." The blond told him. "Now I'm going to go take another shower and get my Transfiguration books." He then disappeared into his room.

"Ah, my friends." Ryuu snickered to himself in amusement.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

After lunch, which Shiko did manage to pull herself out of bed for, they went to Transfiguration, which they had with Hufflepuff. Hino immediately wrapped am arm around his brother's shoulders and grinned.

"Hey. How's the house of snakes treating you?" Hino asked curiously.

"Really well. How's the house of badgers treating you?" Ryuu asked while looking over at his brother.

"Very good. Everyone is so friendly in my house." He said with a playful grin.

"That's good." Ryuu turned to Zissa who was talking quietly with Shiko, both of them giggling every now and again. "I don't think I want to know."

"I don't think any of us want to know." Draco agreed as he leaned back against the wall.

"So I was wondering what your dorm looked like." Hino looked at his brother curiously.

The mostly human boy looked at him for a moment before a laugh burst past his lips. "I was about to ask you the same thing. Well I have my own private room with a large four poster bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. Along with an in-suite bathroom." He said with a playful smile.

"Seriously? Dang." The Naga boy shook his head a little bit. "Well I share a room with the rest of my year mates, our beds are half set into the wall, with shelves carved into the wall on either side of the bed with our trunks at the end of the bed and for privacy we have curtains that can be draped over the foot of our beds. Nothing compared to having our own rooms."

"Or course. Slytherin's have secrets to keep after all." Ryuu said with a fake pompous voice.

Hino snorted and rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Their first Transfiguration class went well enough, Professor McGonagall was a good teacher, even if she was a little strict, though it had been cool when she had first revealed that she was an animagus. Then they spent most of the time turning matches into needles. It was simple enough but took a little bit of concentration to do so. Most of the class managed to get it by the time the period ended, the three Narga children and Draco had spent most of the class making as weird of needles as they possibly could. They had made the needles they needed to in the first few minutes of the lesson so they had to do something the rest of the time after all.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

"Well that wasn't too bad of a first day. History was a bust but other than that…" Ryuu said with a thoughtful nod.

"Yeah? Well I'm ready to go to bed." Draco told him, it was after dinner so they were heading back to their dorm.

"No homework?" He asked his friend playfully.

"No." Draco said with a shake of his head. "We have one short essay to do before next Monday. We can do it on our homework day." He insisted.

"Sure. Whatever you say." The green and blue eyed boy said with an amused smile.

"Shut up." He shoved the other boy a little bit. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning." Ryuu snickered as he entered his own room. _"Today was better than I was expecting. Let's hope tomorrow is even better."_

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Sessina was frowning at the letter that had come that morning. It was from Gringotts concerning Ryuu's money. When she had adopted Ryuu she had contacted the bank concerning his funds and money, she had become her son's retainer until he was old enough to take care of it himself. But the letter said that someone other than Ryuu or herself had entered Ryuu's trust vault and taken money out for school supplies. The boy had claimed to be Harry Potter and had had a key to the vault which was why he'd been allowed to go down, but the bank had then cross-referenced who was allowed into the vault and what they looked like. The letter apologized profusely for not informing her sooner of what had happened, and requested she came to the bank to work out what action she wanted to take.

"The kids have been in school for not even a day." She muttered while finishing her breakfast and coffee before changing into her human form and getting dressed. She quickly ran a comb through her hair and did a once over before making her way to the front door. When she opened it Remus was standing there blinking owlishly at her, his hand raised to knock on the door. "Remus?" She asked while blinking at him in surprise.

"Hello Sessina. Um… where are you heading?" He asked curiously.

"Ah. I have some business to take care of at Gringotts. It's going to take a while, might even take all day. Sorry." She apologized while slipping past him.

"Uh… okay. I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah. Of course. Maybe we could have dinner together?" She suggested with a slight smile.

"Sounds good… Dinner at my place?" He suggested.

"That sounds nice. I'll see you then." The Naga then hurried down the street onto Diagon Alley and then quickly made her way to the bank.

She paused on the steps and took a deep breath to calm her breathing after running. Straightening up she entered the bank and before she could even make her way to a teller a goblin walked up to her and then escorted her down several winding hallways, to an office. Griphook, the goblin who took care of the Potter finances, was sitting behind his large stone desk looking very pissed.

"Griphook. May your gold flow freely." Sessina greeted in traditional goblin fashion.

"And may your enemies fall." Griphook replied. "Ms. Narga, as was stated in our letter to you, a boy came in claiming to be Harry Potter, the teller he went to was new and hadn't yet been informed of Mr. Potter's name and family status. So when the boy came in with a key, he allowed him to go down to Mr. Potter's trust vault. With the influx of customers due to the new school year it took a while for anyone to notice what was wrong. But the moment we did we contacted you." He told her with a frown while setting his chin on his interlaced fingers. "And considering Mr. Potter is one of our richest clients, even considering our creature clients, we would like to resolve this as quickly as possible."

Sessina nodded in understanding while leaning back in her chair. "How much did the boy claiming to be my son take?" She asked with a thoughtful frown.

"Enough for his school supplies and then a little extra, I believe the exact amount is, ten Galleons, seven Sickles, and nine Knuts. Would you like us to repossess the money and everything that he bought with it?" He asked, a vicious look on his face. The goblins were pissed, someone had pulled one over on them and they definitely didn't like that.

"No. I don't think the boy is to blame. I also don't want to draw attention to the fact that he's not Harry Potter yet. I know this is cold, but at the moment he's acting as a good stand in for my son." She let out a sigh and then a humorless laugh. "What a mother won't do for child." She rubbed at her temples and let out another sigh.

"It is understandable Ms. Narga." Griphook took out a file and looked up at her. "You may want to change back to your original form to be more comfortable, this could take a while." He explained. "I assume you do have action you want us to take though."

"Yes. There is." She agreed while letting her legs turn back into her tail. "I want to know who had that vault key and I want to know if that person has anything else that belonged to my son's birthparents, and if they do, I want you to get it back. If they handed the bank key over they would probably do so with anything else that rightfully belongs to my son and I don't want that."

"Understood Ms. Narga. We will get on that immediately." He promised. "And what would you like us to do to the person who has these items?"

"At the moment nothing. I want more time to think of a… fitting punishment. I would also like to have an audience with the Creature Council before proceeding too far." She explained, Griphook nodded in understanding, her reasoning was sound. The Creature Council was similar to the Ministry of Magic, except for any and all non-humans. Humans had their laws for creatures but creatures had their own laws for each other and the Council dealt with all of this. Sessina had not yet told her children about the Council because it didn't yet affect them. Children weren't required to know anything about the Council until they were thirteen, at least not if they didn't break any laws.

"Until then we do have some things to go over and some forms for you to sigh." Griphook told her.

"Well, let's get started."

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

It was four-thirty before they finally finished everything that needed to be done. Mainly they had gone over recent transactions and all of the legal proceedings they needed to have worked out to repossess whatever had been taken that rightfully belonged to Ryuu. Griphook told her it would probably take a while before they got everything back but she was willing to wait, as long as they managed to get it all back. They also set up a smaller vault for the boy claiming to be Harry Potter. The vault had just enough money to get him through the next couple of years of school, they would only add money to it if by they point they hadn't revealed the boy wasn't Harry Potter.

She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a heavy sigh as she entered her house. She would take a shower and change before heading over to Remus's for dinner. She smiled a little as she thought of the werewolf. He really was a great guy who cared about her and her children.

After getting changed she braided her hair and put on a little bit of make-up, just some lipstick and eyeliner, nothing crazy. After making sure she looked good she made her way the couple of houses over to Remus's house and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later the werewolf was standing there smiling. "Sessina. Come in. I just finished making dinner." He told her while leading her into the house, to the kitchen. "We're having chicken and steak pot pies. Of course on the bloody side." He added with a smile. It was close to the full moon so his wolf was close to the surface and itching for some raw meat. Or at least bloody meat.

"Thank you Remus." She smiled tiredly at him. "Really. I needed this after today."

"Sounds like you had a really tough day." He frowned in concern while pulling her chair out for her. "What happened at the bank? It you don't mind me asking."

Sessina let out a sigh and rubbed at her forehead. "It's… just a whole big mess." She shook her head a little bit. She hadn't told Remus about who Ryuu was, it wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was just that the few people who knew the better. Besides her it was only Tory and Valdir that knew. Tory because she was the one to figure out who Ryuu was and Valdir because he was their landlord and they couldn't keep something that could be potentially dangerous to all of them away from him.

"You know you can talk to me about anything right?" He touched her hand and smiled a little. "I'm always here to listen." He promised her.

She set her hand over his and considered telling him. If anyone would keep this secret it would be Remus. He cared a lot for her and all of her children. "I need to tell you something. And please listen completely before you say anything okay? And know that I only kept it from you to keep Ryuu safe, because the more people that know the more danger he's in. Also there was just never a good time to tell you."

"It's okay Sessina. I told you, you can tell me anything. And I understand that you would keep something from me if you were trying to protect one of your children." The werewolf said, understanding lacing his tone.

The Naga took a deep steadying breath and looked him in the eyes. "When I first found Ryuu he was a little over a year old. It was the end of October, almost November, he was laying on a front porch wrapped in a blanket but nothing else. No spells or anything to keep the cold out, to keep him from freezing to death." She shook her head a little bit to clear it. "Anyways, I took him and brought him back home. I named him and I adopted him. He's _my_ child, and he'll always be my child and no one can ever take him from me." She said fiercely. "But… before I adopted Ryuu, officially adopted him, I found out who he was." She rubbed at her face a little bit. "Ryuu is, was, Harry Potter. He's not anymore. He doesn't want to be Harry. When he's old enough he'll still take over the Potter accounts and all of that, but he doesn't want to be the Wizarding World's hero." She told him.

Remus was shocked by that. Ryuu was Harry? Ryuu was two of his friends' son? "Ryuu… is Lily and James's son?" He asked, still in shock over that news.

"Yes." She squeezed his hand a little bit. "Are you alright, Remus?" She asked worriedly.

"I… I was Lily and James's friend. They… made friends with me in school. I… they thought about making me Harry's godfather but… they couldn't because I'm a werewolf and Harry is… was… they thought he was, human. I've been with Harry this whole time… and I didn't even… I didn't even know." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Remus, calm down. Take a deep breath, think." She told him. "And maybe it's a good thing you got to know and care about him before you knew he was Harry." She squeezed his shoulder a little bit. "It's okay. Really." She promised him.

He took a deep breath and then smiled a little bit. "That… wow. At least I know he's doing alright. And that he's happy. Not to mention smart as a whip." He looked at her, his smile widening a bit. "James and Lily would be happy that you adopted him, Sessina. You're a wonderful mother." He told her.

"Thank you Remus." She kissed his cheek. "I'm sure Ryuu will want to pick your brain for stories about Lily and James when he comes back." She told him.

The werewolf smiled at her and then tilted his head to look at her. "So… what was the issue with Ryuu's bank account?" He asked.

Sessina let out a slight sigh. "Apparently there's a boy claiming to be Harry Potter. He had the key to Ryuu's trust vault and he took out some money for his school things." When Remus growled, his eyes glowing amber, she patted his arm soothingly. "It's okay Remus, it wasn't very much money, didn't even make a slight dent in Ryuu's trust. Besides, I don't think the boy is at fault. The goblins and I have a plan set up."

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, it was hard to remain rational when it was so close to the full moon. "I should have known you had something planned." He smiled a little at her.

"Of course Remus. Do you really think I would let someone get away with trying to steal from one of my babies?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know, I know. I apologize for overreacting."

"It's alright. I understand. Now let's eat. I'm starving. All I had for lunch was some meat bits and a cup of tea." She told him with a slight shake of her head.

Remus chuckled. "Alright. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will." She took a bite of her pot pie and let out a happy hum. "Mm. Just as I thought, amazing. You're a wonderful cook, Remus." The Naga smiled at him.

"Why thank you." He smiled at her.

After dinner, the werewolf walked Sessina home and they chatted a little about non-important things.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Sessina smiled a little at him. "Tonight was nice. Thank you."

"There's no reason to thank me. I had a nice time as well." Remus smiled as well as they stood in front of her door. "I'll see you tomorrow." He gave her a brief hug and then walked away. "Good night!" He called to her.

"Good night." She called back.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The next day Ryuu, Shiko, and Draco had Herbology first thing with the Ravenclaws, which went well. The class wasn't too hard as long as you knew some basic things about plants you didn't have to worry too much. Then they had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors.

"My sisters!" Shiko said in an overly dramatic way, making both Kiko and Rikka turn to look at her with grins on their faces.

"Shiko! Hey." Rikka wrapped an arm around her sister's waist as Kiko wrapped an arm around Shiko's shoulders.

"How are you two doing? The house of lions treating you well?"

"Of course." Kiko said with a grin. "And how about the house of snakes? That going good for you and Ryuu?" She looked over at Ryuu curiously.

"Of course. We were born to be snakes." Shiko said playfully.

"That's a bad joke." Rikka whispered with a snicker.

"So? What's your rooming like?" Shiko asked eagerly, she'd already gotten to ask their other siblings what their rooms and sleeping agreements were like, now she wanted to know about the last two's.

Before either girl could answer though, Weasley stepped up to all of them glaring. "You can't tell them that." He insisted. "That's Gryffindor information. Slytherins have no right to know!"

The four Narga children stared at him in shock for a moment before Ryuu stepped up to the redhead, a glare of his own on his face. "What are you trying to say Weasley? That our sisters can't talk to us about their sleeping arrangements just because Shiko and I are in Slytherin?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!"

" _Just_ because we're Slytherins? Would you care if we were in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?" The blue and green eyed boy asked, his glare intensifying as he looked at the other boy.

"Slytherin is evil! Everyone who goes to Slytherin is evil!" Weasley said, his face going as red as his hair.

"Evil huh? So because we're cunning and we have ambition we're evil? We're _eleven_ Weasley. Just like you. Eleven year olds aren't evil." He stepped closer to the redhead, crowding him and making him step back. "You honestly believe that just because we're in the house of snakes we're plotting to take over the world or something?"

"Of course!" Weasley said. "You're all just like You-Know-Who!"

"You-Know-Who huh?" Ryuu wanted to hit the boy but he kept his fists to himself and instead smirked a little. "I'll have you know, that nutcase went about taking over the world the complete wrong way. He should have been much more subtle about it."

"You are an evil bastard!" The redhead pointed an accusing finger at Ryuu.

Rikka set her hand on her brother's shoulder and pulled him back before getting right in Weasley's face. "So you're saying we should abandon our siblings just because they're in the house of snakes? Did you forget that Kiko and I have snakes as our familiars?" She hissed, obviously having to fight to keep from slipping into Parseltongue. "You stupid, stupid arse!" She pulled back her fist to hit him but Ryuu wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up to pull her away from her house mate. "Put me down! He deserves to have his teeth knocked out!" She screamed.

"What is going on here?!" Professor McGonagall cried out while coming storming down the hall.

Rikka stopped throwing a fit so Ryuu set her down and turned to the professor. "I'm sorry Professor. Mr. Weasley made a few rude remarks and my sister reacted badly." He apologized formally.

"I did no such thing!" The redhead cried out.

Rikka rounded on the boy, fire in her eyes. "So calling my brother and sister evil was nothing? Saying I shouldn't talk to them because they're in Slytherin is nothing? I really should knock all of your teeth out!"

"I'll hold him down." Kiko hissed, her eyes just as angry.

Before McGonagall could do more than open her mouth Ryuu had smacked both of his sisters upside the head. "You won't. Knocking his teeth out won't do anything except get both of you in trouble. You'll leave the redheaded prat alone. Understand?" He told them both firmly, making them both look away from him stubbornly. "I said understand?" He said more firmly.

"Understood." They both said in unison, everyone else standing there stared in shock, even Professor McGonagall. "I am truly sorry that things got out of hand Professor and I know I am partly to blame. But Mr. Weasley started it by saying we couldn't talk to our sisters. I suppose I got offended by that and started to bait him. Still I shouldn't have let it get so out of hand, and for that I apologize."

"That… is very mature of you Mr. Narga. Five points to Slytherin for trying to keep a worse argument from breaking out." She turned to the redhead and frowned a little. "Five points from Gryffindor for unprovoked aggression." She looked at Rikka and seemed to be considering something. "Another five points from Gryffindor for attempted assault. If something like this happens again expect detentions. Now all of you get in class. The bell is about to read." She told them before turning and striding down the hall.

Weasley glared at them and Ryuu just smirked a little as they all entered the Defense room.

"You're all kinds of trouble." Draco muttered with a shake of his head as they took their seats.

"I thought you already knew that." He said playfully.

"But now you're gaining attention." The blond boy nodded to the other Slytherin students who were looking at Ryuu in a new light.

The mostly human boy glanced back at them before turning back to the front of the room. "Good." A slight smirk came to his lips.

"You're so weird." Draco said with a slight shake of his head.

"You know it." He grinned at his friend. "You also know I'm not a complete idiot. I see the way you, and all the other Slytherins look at me. And believe me. I know what I'm doing." He told him.

"Whatever you say." He muttered with a slight shake of his head.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

After Defense Ryuu and Shiko talked with Rikka and Kiko about their living arrangements and found that out of all of them the Gryffindors had the least amount of privacy with their beds that didn't even sit back in the wall or anything like that. Just four poster beds with hangings. It sounded awful. Having no privacy like that. But it made sense, with the way all the dorms were set up. They reflected the houses well.

Ryuu, Shiko and Draco decided that since they had the rest of the day free they would spend some time down by the lake.

"Mm. It's such a nice day. I just want to sit out in the sun." Shiko said while stretching out in in the grass.

"Watch it sis, you might accidentally fall asleep out here. Then I would be obligated to throw you in the lake." Ryuu warned with a playful grin.

"Shut up." She poked him with her toe. "If you threw me in the lake I would have to drag you in with me."

"The both of you should shut up. I would like to enjoy this nice day instead of listening to the two of you bicker." Draco said from where he was spread out next to Ryuu.

"I'm surprised you're not trying to get away from the sun Draco. You're just so pale." Shiko said teasingly.

"Just because I'm pale doesn't mean I don't enjoy the sun. I just have to be careful with applying sun repelling charms."

"Kind of like a vampire?" Ryuu asked playfully.

The blond smacked his friend's arm. "I'm not _that_ sensitive to sunlight." He told him with a scowl.

"Whatever you say Draco." He said with a playful smile.

He shook his head and just looked up at the sky. "You're an arse."

"But I'm still your best friend." Ryuu nudged him a little bit with a grin.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Ryuu. It's only the second day of classes. I still might find a better mate." He told him. "Besides, your accent it so weird I might need to find another best mate."

"Hey. Just because my accent is different from yours doesn't mean you should dump me as a friend." The green and blue eyed boy complained.

"Whatever you say." Draco rolled his eyes but was smiling a little to show that he was joking, mostly.

"You won't find a better friend Dray. Trust me." He said with a playful grin.

"Of course you would say that." The blond rolled his eyes and then looked over at Ryuu with a raised eyebrow. "Dray?" He asked.

"What? It fits you." Ryuu told him. "Besides, it rolls off the tongue really well. Even better than your full name. Not that I'm saying Draco doesn't have a good flow to it, just that Dray flows a bit better."

"You're impossible. You know that right?" He rolled his eyes again and went back to looking up at the sky.

"Yeah. I know." The mostly human boy snickered a little and they all sat there in compatible silence for a while. "You know." Ryuu said, making the other two look at him as he looked at the castle. "The castle is huge. I bet you almost no one has explored the whole thing in ages." He looked at the other two who were looking at him curiously now. "What do you say we explore it?" He asked with a grin.

"Explore the castle? The whole thing?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Think about it." Shiko said with a grin of her own. "Three Slytherins learning all the secrets of the castle. Wouldn't that just irk everyone?"

"Hm. I suppose it would be fun…" The blond admitted.

" _Of course_ it'll be fun." Ryuu insisted. "If we do all of our homework throughout the week then we'll have the weekends to explore."

"We should totally do that. We'll find out more about the castle and it'll give us something to do on the weekends." Shiko grinned. "If you're not in Draco then we'll just leave you." She told him.

He glared at her. "Of course I'm going." He insisted. "I want to know about the castle and all of the secrets."

"Good! Be ready to travel with all of us Nargas. Because our siblings will want in on this too." She told him with a grin.

"Your siblings aren't complete idiots, even the Gryffindors. So I don't mind." Draco said with a slight shrug.

"Good." Ryuu grinned while stretching out more on the grass. "It'll be fun." He mutter while closing his eyes and smiling a little to himself.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Not much happened on Wednesday they had Charms in the afternoon, so the three Slytherins slept in, barely making it to breakfast in time. They spent the morning working on some of their homework and then going out to sit by the lake again before going to Charms, which they had with Hufflepuff.

Then that night, at midnight, they had their first Astronomy lesson with Ravenclaw. All of the children were tired and not as awake and ready for this class at the moment. Even the Ravenclaws weren't as ready and on top of all of the questions as they normally were, but they all did manage to stay awake for the whole class.

Thursday was exciting for Ryuu, Shiko, and Draco. It was their first flying lesson and they were excited. They managed to keep their excitement at bay just long enough to have their study session and do their homework for the day. But after that they were all but vibrating with excitement. All of the Narga children had done a little bit of flying back home, not much, just enough to know the basics. Draco told them that he had been flying for a long time and was eager to get back into the air.

As the Slytherin and Gryffindor students followed their teacher, Madam Hooch, out to the brooms there was a notable tang of excitement in the air. Even the poor state of the school brooms wasn't enough to discourage them too much. Those that knew a bit about brooms were quick the grab the brooms that were in the best condition and would fly the best. Ryuu, Draco, Shiko, Kiko, and Rikka all managed to get good brooms all next to each other.

"These aren't so bad. They're not good, but they'll at least fly." Draco said thoughtfully as he looked over his broom.

"Barely." Rikka said with a shake of her head. "They're rickety and look like they're going to fall apart."

Just then Madam Hooch hollered for everyone to put their hands over the brooms and shout 'up'. So everyone did as she said.

Ryuu's broom immediately slammed up into his hand, like it usually did. His sisters all mock glared at him, envying his ability with a broom. Draco raised an impressed eyebrow before turning back to his own broom, an 'up' later and it was in his hand.

"Of course. Him and Ryuu both have to be good with a broom." Kiko muttered in annoyance to herself. The girls managed to get their own brooms into their hands after a few more tries.

Once everyone had gotten a broom in their hands they were directed to mount them, kick off, float with their feet a few inches off the ground, and then touch back down. It was simple enough, but as they were getting ready to kick off a chubby, dark haired Gryffindor boy kicked off too hard and shot into the air like a rocket.

"Neville Longbottom!" Madam Hooch yelled after the boy. "Get back here! Mr. Longbottom!"

They all watched in a mix of horror and fascination as Neville Longbottom's broom whipped him around. Then as he fell off and hit the ground with a 'crack' that they all heard from a good distance away.

Madam Hooch ran up to him with all of the students following close behind. She got him to his feet, with him saying 'ow' the whole time. "I'll be taking Mr. Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. If I see one broom in the air before I get back the person on it will be expelled before they can say Quidditch." She threatened as she led the boy away from everyone and back towards the school.

Draco wandered forward and picked up a clear ball. "A remembrall?" He muttered while looking it over.

"Give that back Malfoy!" Weasley yelled, Potter following closer behind him, a frown on his face.

"And what do you think I'm going to do with it Weasley?" The blond sneered. "It's not like I need it or something like that." He tossed the ball at the redhead, who fumbled with it until he finally managed to catch it. "I'm not going to take a remembrall from a kid who just broke his wrist." He snorted at the boy and then turned back to his friends with his broom resting on his shoulder.

"My, how mature of you Dray." Ryuu said mockingly.

"Shut up. I'm not a monster you know." He grumbled.

"We know Dray." The blue and green eyed boy promised while patting his friend's shoulder reassuringly.

"Not a monster? I don't believe that for a second." Weasley said with a glare.

Ryuu turned to look at the redhead with a raised eyebrow. "Do you _like_ fighting with us? Is that it, Weasley? You like arguing and fighting with us? That's messed up Weasley."

The redhead turned red with embarrassment and anger. "You… you slimy good for nothing snake!" He drew his wand and pointed it at Ryuu.

The blue and green eyed boy raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you have the guts to fire a spell?" He asked.

"Ronald! Stop." The Granger girl shouted. "You could get expelled!"

"Shut up!" He growled while keeping his wand pointed at Ryuu, he was shaking a little bit and seemed to be trying to think of a good hex or curse.

"If you're not going to do it then put away your wand." Ryuu said while casually crossing his arms over his chest, but his stance was one that he could easily move to defend himself or attack.

Weasley shook with anger and then fired hex, Ryuu was pretty sure it was meant to take all of the hair off of his head but he didn't know for sure because it never got to him. He ducked out of the way of the spell and in one smooth motion, kicked Ron in the face, breaking his nose. "AGH!" The redhead cried out in pain, dropping his wand to clutch his nose.

"Seems you did have guts to do it Weasley. Guess you weren't in Gryffindor for nothing. But a word for the wise, never think you've gotten one up on a Slytherin. We always have a plan B. You should go to the nurse. Your nose needs to be fixed." He turned back to his sisters and Draco.

The blond raised a curious eyebrow as his sisters all grinned at him. "You know he's going to try and get you expelled for that right?" He asked.

"Oh I know. But I won't let him. Besides, he deserved to have his nose broken."

"I never said that he didn't deserve it. I just said he would try to get you expelled. And be careful, I hear that the Headmaster favors Gryffindors." Draco said as they watched Potter help guide Weasley towards the infirmary.

"But Professor Snape is on our side. He'll keep me from being expelled for defending myself. He hurled the hex first after all." The mostly human boy said while leaning against his broom a little bit.

"You're confident. That's obvious. Why?" The blond asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I'm in the right." Ryuu said with a slight smirk. "And I know it. If they try to expel me I'll insist on getting a trial or something like that." He said with a shrug. "I know my rights."

"Also they have at least two Gryffindors will stand up for him and tell the Headmaster what happened." Rikka said while draping an arm around her brother's shoulders. "So he won't be able to kick Ryuu out of school just for breaking the redheaded prick's nose."

Draco nodded a little bit and turned to look at his friend. "Well, I guess you at least have a plan." He said thoughtfully. "I just hope it works."

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Right after their flying lesson Professor Snape came and got Ryuu to take him to the Headmaster's office. He was quiet for most of the time but then turned to look at his student with a slight frown when they were completely alone. "Why did you break his nose? Did he deserve it?" He asked simply.

"Yes. He drew his wand and fired a spell at me. I reacted by kicking him in the face." Ryuu told him.

The professor stared at him for a moment before nodding in understanding. "Then you did the right thing." He turned on his heel and kept walking, Ryuu right behind him.

When they reached the Headmaster's office Ron Weasley was sitting in a chair with Professor McGonagall standing next to him, a slight scowl on her face.

"Mr. Narga. Please have a seat." The Headmaster said in a grave voice.

Ryuu frowned but did as he was told. He also knew to keep his mouth shut. He wasn't going to get himself into more trouble by talking when he wasn't told to.

"Mr. Narga, Mr. Weasley says you attacked him unprovoked. Would you like to tell me why?" The headmaster asked with a somewhat sad grandfatherly look.

"I did not attack him unprovoked Professor. He pointed his wand at me and fired a spell. I acted on instinct and kicked him in the face, which broke his nose. It wasn't my intention." Ryuu told them while looking up at the Headmaster.

Dumbledore looked between the two boys as Ron squirmed in his seat as Ryuu sat tall, proud, and unyielding. As they sat their Ryuu felt something brush against his mental defenses and tensed. He watched as the Headmaster's eyes widen slight in surprise and then narrow a little bit. The mostly human boy felt the Headmaster's mental probe batter against his defenses, trying to break them.

He narrowed his eyes as the battering continued, until he finally allowed his offenses to come out and attack the probe that was starting to give him a headache. Since the metal defense was tied to an amulet it was just a smooth obsidian wall that had one opening that would let a poisonous snake out to attack the intruder, which was just what happened. The probe withdrew and Dumbledore frowned, his eyes traveled to the amulet around the boy's neck and then looked back up into his eyes. The man seemed to be debating something before turning to look at Weasley.

Ryuu let out a silent sigh of relieve but didn't let himself relax, he wouldn't let himself relax. Not yet, not while he was in this office.

After a few moments the Headmaster let out a sigh and leaned back against his seat. "I see. You're free to go Mr. Narga. Mr. Weasley fifteen points for Gryffindor for firing a spell at a fellow classmate. You're dismissed."

The Slytherin boy got to his feet and followed his head of house as Weasley did the same. Though once they were out of the office the redhead glared at the other boy. "You should have been expelled." He said angrily.

"So should you." Ryuu said while keeping his eyes straight forward, refusing to look at the redhead.

"Why you…"

"Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall said sternly. "You just got in trouble for fighting. So stop." She said with a slight scowl. "Let's go." She insisted while leading him away towards Gryffindor tower.

Professor Snape was leading Ryuu back towards the dungeons with quick steps but suddenly stopped a few minutes later in a deserted hallway. "You kept the Headmaster out of your head. How?" He asked his dark eyes staring into Ryuu's mismatched eyes.

"This." Ryuu held up the amulet on his chest so that his head of house could see it. "It puts a barrier around my mind."

He looked over the amulet, it was fairly small, unobtrusive. It was a blue stone with golden snake wrapped around it, its head looking like it was biting the chain. "This could be confiscated." He told him bluntly.

The mostly human boy's lips formed a tight line. "It can't be taken off. Not even by me." He told him. "Only my mother can take it off. So no, it can't be confiscated." He told him. "Believe me professor. We thought of that."

"All of you? So all of your siblings?"

"Of course Professor. My family has a few secrets and we'd like to keep those secrets." He said while crossing his arms over his chest. "But it's not secrets anyone needs to be concerned with. They're just family secrets, family spells and what have you that we don't want others knowing about."

Snape nodded a little bit. "Understood." He said as he continued walking, he student following close behind. "You and your friends seem to be on top of things. Some of the most studious students I've had." He told him.

"Thank you Professor."

They were silent the rest of the way to the common room and once they got their Ryuu was dragged off to a private sitting room by his sister and Draco to talk about what had happened. After he explained that he was not going to be expelled they relaxed and then gathered their things together and headed to the library. After claiming a table and sitting down they all got out the homework they had left and started on it. Since it was only the first week of classes they didn't have too much homework so they were already almost done. They would only have homework tomorrow if Professor Snape assigned some.

They finished up their homework just in time for dinner and were quite proud of themselves.

"We've almost made it through a whole week without freaking out." Shiko grinned. "We're doing wonderfully." She said teasingly.

"We are." Ryuu agreed. "I do miss home but it is fun here."

Draco stayed quiet while listening to the siblings talk and eating his dinner.

"You know you can talk to me." The green and blue eyed boy said while looking up at him. "I am your best friend after all." He reminded him.

"A best mate with a weird accent and a weird way of saying things. Like using friend rather than mate. Seriously are you from a different country or something?" The blond asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. Just grew up speaking a different language." He said with a lopsided grin.

"So… you lived in England but spoke a different language?" He asked with a surprised look.

"Yep. Our mother speaks a different language, she speaks English too but she wanted us to grow up speaking her native language. So we did." Ryuu said with a slight shrug.

"Well… I guess that makes sense." Draco admitted with a thoughtful look.

"Of course it does. If you were to move to another country you would want your kids to speak your native language, even if it gives them a funny accent." Shiko said with a slight grin.

"Alright, I get it. You don't have to bombard me." He told them while rolling his eyes. "The downside of having siblings for friends. They gang up on you." He said with a shake of his head.

"But of course." The siblings said in unison, making Draco groan and them laugh. "You have to get used to it." Ryuu said while patting his shoulder soothingly.

"Shut up." He shoved his friend while rolling his eyes.

The mostly human boy snickered in amusement. "Sure. I'll shut up, until then end of dinner, and then it's back to talking." He told him with an amused smile.

"Well at least it'll be quiet for a while." The blond said with a slight laugh.

Shiko snickered and Ryuu rolled his eyes. The rest of the meal passed in compatible silence.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The next day, Friday, had the Slytherin first years standing outside of their head of house's classroom with their cauldrons and eyeing the Gryffindors with a little unease and distrust. Well, all except for Rikka and Kiko who were chatting with their siblings and Draco. The snakes, in the last week or so, had mostly accepted the two lions, besides, the two lions fit in well with the snakes, even with their lion like tendencies.

Weasley kept glaring at Ryuu and Potter kept looking between the two with a frown on his face, seeming to be trying to make some kind of decision. But Ryuu looked like he didn't notice at all, which of course was a lie. He always kept an eye on Weasley and Potter when they were in the same class, he'd really prefer to not be taken off guard. But he wouldn't let that get in the way of him talking with his siblings.

"So I was thinking tomorrow we could all get together and explore the castle. And write a letter to Mama. Also a letter to Ilno and Nol. We promised to send them lots of letters after all." He told them.

"That sounds like fun. The exploring. As for the letter writing…" Kiko eyed Draco. "I assume he won't be there for that?" She asked.

"I don't want to listen to you as you write to your family and friends back home. That's private and just for you and your other siblings." The blond said with a shake of his head.

"Good. So how about those of us related meet up in the morning, write our letters, and then after lunch we can all go exploring." Rikka suggested. "That sound like a plan?"

"Sounds good. As long as Dray can entertain himself that long." Ryuu said teasingly.

"Shut up. Of course I can entertain myself for a morning." Draco said while rolling his eyes. "I'll probably write my own letters. Or something else to entertain myself." He shrugged a little. "Either way, I'll be fine."

"Good. Wouldn't want my best friend to be bored." He said with a slight grin.

"Best mate, you weirdo." The blond said with a slight shake of his head.

Before the conversation could go much farther Professor Snape came stalking down the hall, silently. He threw open the door to his classroom and led everyone inside. "There will be no foolish wand waving or other foolishness in this class. Potions is an exact science and if you are careless and stupid in this class you will blow yourself up." He said bluntly as they were all taking their seats and putting their cauldrons on the desks.

As the class progressed Professor Snape proceeded to tear into Potter, making Ryuu rather happy that he _wasn't_ Harry Potter anymore. He'd rather not be harassed like that by Professor Snape, it looked brutal. He actually felt a little sorry for the boy, though if it had been Weasley he would have just laughed in amusement.

After they got a lesson in the theory of potions, which took the first whole half of class, they started on their first potion, a cure for boils potion. It was simple enough, Ryuu and his siblings had brewed it several times, they could brew it in their sleep it was so simple. Well for them, they knew that anyone who hadn't brewed it before, it would probably be relatively difficult, but it didn't take too long to make so that was an upside.

Part of the way through the brewing there was a loud bang that mad everyone jump. When they looked they saw that Longbottom's cauldron had blown up.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Professor Snape said while waving his wand to clear out the smoke and ruined cauldron. "I told you to be careful." He said smoothly and coldly. "Everyone get back to your potions."

Ryuu shook his head a little bit while looking over his own half-finished potion. It was going good so far so he wasn't worried. The class continued until they all finished up their potions and bottled them up before turning them in.

"I'm so ready for lunch." Rikka groaned while rubbing at her tummy.

"Tell me about it." Shiko said while stretching. "Double potions is just _wonderful_ , bent over a cauldron."

"I enjoy potions." Draco said cracking his neck. "Even if it does make me achy." He said while rolling his shoulders to get out the stiffness.

"I don't mind brewing potions but I don't think I'll ever turn it into a career." Ryuu cracked his back and yawned a little. "Now though I want food. And lots of it." He said with a slight grin.

"Yeah. I could use some food myself." The blond admitted.

As they entered the great hall Ryuu smiled to himself. _"We made it through our first week. And tomorrow we get to explore the castle."_ His smiled widened. _"This was a good week."_ He turned to look at his sisters and his friend. _"A great week."_ He corrected himself.

 **An: This chapter didn't do much for the plot but I got a little bit in there. A special shout out to The Age of Awesomeness, who has been here since the beginning, I love reading your reviews. Another shout out to Magitech, I love your reviews, they're full of good things! And last, but certainly not least, a shout out to Stasia Ravenclaw for PMing me and having lots to say. And thank you to everyone else for your reviews! Reviews make my happy and give me motivation to write. Please rate and review!**


	6. Adventures, a Rat, and Romance?

**An: This chapter refused to be written! It took me forever to get it out so it's a little shorter than I had originally intended but I do have plenty going on in this chapter so I hope you like it! I've been working hard for you people! I'm sick as a dog and I'm still getting this out within a week. I hope you're grateful. Of course I'm joking. I love this story so it's not that big of a deal getting a chapter out even when I feel like shit. If anything it helps me concentrate on something other than being sick.**

 **Chapter 5**

Saturday morning found the seven Narga children out next to the Forbidden Forest passing a quill around as they wrote a letter to their mother. Of course they were writing in Parseltongue so that no one else would be able to read it. Especially since they were telling her about the fake Harry Potter. After their letter to their mother, which was eight pages long, each child taking up a page and then an extra page that they shared, they wrote letters to Ilno and Nol.

"Alright, now that we have those done… is there anything anyone wants to say that they don't want to say in front of Draco?" Ryuu asked as he looked around at his siblings.

Rikka and Kiko exchanged a look before leaning forward. "Weasley's rat. It tastes wrong." Kiko said as her Ball Python, Sagi, hissed in agreement from her shoulders.

"What do you mean? How does it taste weird?" Lissana asked with a slight frown.

"It doesn't taste like a rat." Rikka said with a frown. "It tastes… well it tastes human." Her Ball Python, Kinoyuki, made an angry little hiss from Rikka's lap. "It's all kinds of wrong."

"A rat that tastes human. That is wrong." Ryuu agreed with a slight frown.

"What should we do about it? Let one of our pythons eat it?" Kiko asked.

"No. That would be stupid. And it could hurt Sagi or Kinoyuki. You should tell your head of house. Let her know that something's wrong with the rat." The most human of the siblings said.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Rikka asked with a frown.

"Tell her that Sagi and Kinoyuki are acting weird around the rat." Hino suggested. "Obviously you can't tell her that you're the ones that know something is off about the rat."

"Alright. We'll do that. Get her to do something with the rat." Kiko agreed as Rikka nodded.

Zissa looked around at everyone while chewing on her lip. "Has anyone else felt uncomfortable having legs for so long?" She asked.

"I have. My legs… they itch all the time." Shiko said while rubbing at one of her legs.

"Mine feel sore." Hino agreed while stretching out one of his legs.

"Mine just feel like they're going to turn back into my tail any second. I have to be careful every time I go to bed." Kiko complained.

"Well, I've been fine so far." Rikka said while looking down at her legs.

"Me either." Lissana told them with a curious look.

Ryuu looked at his Naga siblings with a slight frown. "We need to find a place for you guys to let your tails out." He looked up at the castle. "Thing there's a place in the castle?" He asked while looking back at them.

"I would be surprised if there wasn't." Lissana said while frowning a little bit. "I mean it's so big." She looked up at it. "Hardly any of the castle is actually used. So we have to be able to find a room we can use." She insisted.

"We will find a room." The green and blued eyed boy promised. He couldn't understand what they were going through but he could at least try and help them.

"Thanks." He smiled at his brother and patted his shoulder. "It's almost lunch guys. Let's head back. Besides we need to meet up with Draco before we start exploring."

"Malfoy." Ryuu and Shiko said at the same time. "Dray would be pissed if someone he didn't really know called him by his first name." Ryuu explained.

"Fine. Malfoy. But if you're still friends with him next year, which I'm sure you're going to be, I'm calling him by his first name." Hino insisted.

"Whatever you say Hino. But you're the one who'll have to tell him that." Ryuu said with a smirk as they gathered all of their things and headed back to the castle.

"I'll take these to the Owlery." Kiko said while holding up the letters. "I'll be back." She grinned before darting off to the Owlery.

"Can anyone say hyperactive?" Shiko muttered with an amused smile as they all walked into the Great Hall, making them all snicker in amusement.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

They broke off from each other to head to their house tables. When Ryuu and Shiko sat down next to Draco he looked up at them curiously. "Have some good quality family time?" He asked curiously.

"Yep. You ready to go exploring with us after lunch?" The mostly human boy asked curiously.

"Of course. It should be fun." The blond said while eating his lunch. "Maybe even a little dangerous." He sounded a little sarcastic so Shiko leaned around her brother and grinned wickedly.

"Of course it'll be dangerous. We're going to places no one has been to in years. There could be traps or we could all end up breaking our legs and have to drag ourselves to the Hospital wing." She told him with a wicked look.

Draco paused in his chewing as he looked at her he swallowed and frowned at her. "You're awful. You know that right? And the school wouldn't be that unsafe. I mean… it's a school. We can't be the first kids to _ever_ think of exploring it. They would have dismantled anything really dangerous."

"Well, the Headmaster did tell us all to avoid the third floor unless we wanted to die painful." Ryuu said thoughtfully. "So there could be other dangerous things in the school."

The other boy looked between the two siblings and then let out a heavy sigh. "Hanging out with you people is going to get me killed isn't it? Or at least give me a heart-attack or something."

"Or something." They agreed with vicious grins.

"I'm starting to think I chose the wrong friends." He grumbled halfheartedly to himself.

"Well, look at it this way, at least your school years won't be boring." The blue and green eyed boy insisted while wrapping an arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Right, because dying before I turn eleven is so _exciting_." Draco said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

"Well, if you die in an exciting way…" Ryuu didn't have a chance to finish because the blond grabbed the back of his head and shoved it into his pasta. "ARGH!" He cried out in surprise when he realized his head had become part of the meal. "DRAY!" He wiped of his face and turned to glare at his friend who was humming as though nothing had happened. "I'm going to get you for this." He hissed. "When you least expect it."

Draco looked at him and then shrugged. "Worth it. You were acting like a prick." He told him.

The mostly human boy grumbled to himself as his sister was cackling like a madwoman. "You'll suffocate if you keep laughing like that." He told her while wiping his face off and scraping the red sauce out of his hair. "I'm going to need to go back to our dorm and clean up before we head out." He said with a scowl.

Shiko took her wand out and cast Scourgify at him. "There. Now you don't need to go back to the dorms." She said with a cheeky smile.

"Where did you learn that?" He asked his sister with a raised eyebrow.

"I taught myself. It was in our book and it's not that hard." She said with a shrug. "I'm not a slacker bro. You should learn it. You know, in case Draco decides you'll look good with a mashed potato hat." She said with a grin.

Ryuu looked over at the blond who was grinning a little to himself. "Don't even think about it Malfoy! Or I will be forced to hex you into next week!" He told him with a glare.

Draco raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I get it. Not thinking about it." He promised.

"You better not." Ryuu grumbled while turning back to his food, after switching out his plate for a new one.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

After they all finished their food the seven Narga children and Draco met up right outside the Great Hall doors. "So… where should we start?" Hino asked with a grin as he looked around at all of them.

"Well, I think we should start from the top and work our way down." Lissana said while looking around at all of them.

"So then we'll be in the dungeons last?" Draco asked with a frown.

The Ravenclaw girl looked at him curiously. "Well, we don't know how far down the dungeons go. It would be better if we go floor by floor, going down, that way when she do reach the dungeons we'll be able to at least get out by going up a floor." She explained, making the blond blush a little in embarrassment.

"Alright. Well, if we're starting at the top… then we better start climbing." Kiko said while nodding to the stairs. "Let's just hope the stairs don't change too much and let us get to the top quickly." She then started sprinting up the stairs, making them all groan at the pace she was setting.

By the time they reached the Astronomy tower, the highest point in the school, even higher than the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers, they were all panting and sweaty. "She's not allowed to be in the lead anymore." Draco wheezed, he was the most winded of them because he hadn't done a lot of exercising before school because wizards and witches, for whatever reason, didn't seem to believe in exercising. Ryuu and them had at least done things like weapon training and were used to hard workouts.

"A little running won't killed you Dray." Ryuu told him, already catching his breath.

"Tell that to my lungs." The blond groaned, looking like he wanted to fall to the ground but his pride not letting him. So instead he had his hands on his knees and was huffing like the Hogwarts Express as it got ready to leave the station.

"Unless you have asthma or a heart condition, it really won't." He said while smacking his friend on the back, making him fall flat on his face. After a few moments of Draco not moving Ryuu crouched down and grinned at him. "Comfy?" He asked playfully.

"Shaddup." He muttered, seeming to be quite content with where he was.

Snickering to himself Ryuu turned back to his siblings who were all looking around the room to see if they could find anything interesting. "Anyone find anything yet?" He asked curiously.

"No. But that's to be expected. This room is still used as a classroom after all." Rikka said with a shrug.

"Yeah. Any secret in here would have been found years ago." He turned to look at Lissana who had a piece of parchment out and was drawing on it quickly. "What are you doing Liss?" He asked while peeking over her shoulder. It turned out it was a detailed drawing of the room they were in, but it was a map view of it. "Are you making a map of the school?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, we need to where all of things we're going to be finding are so that we can find them again." She insisted. "I'm going to be making a crude map on this," she pulled out a larger sheet of parchment, "and then I'll be making detailed drawings of each room, then when we're done I'll put it all together and make a full map." She explained making them all nod in understanding. "Then I'll duplicate the map so that we all have one."

"That sounds hard and complicated." Zissa said while looking over her sister's shoulder. "Can I help?" She asked.

Lissana smiled brightly. "That would be great Zissa. You're a good drawer so could you help me draw the rooms? We can take turns. I draw one then you draw one and go on from there?" She suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." She smiled at her sister.

"Alright. Next room?" Shiko asked while looking around. "I'll lead the way this time."

"Well, if Draco can drag himself off of the floor." Ryuu pointed at his friend who was still face down on the floor.

"I'm getting up." The blond grumbled while pushing himself up. "Let's go." He said while stretching a little bit.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

They spent the rest of the day exploring the top levels of the castle. They didn't find much, a lot of empty classrooms mostly but at the end, just as they were getting ready to call it a day, they stumbled onto a room tucked back into an alcove. The door was big, made of some kind of dark wood with metal sculptures of vines and leaves on it. It was definitely the fanciest door they had come across so far, and with all of the dust that was in the alcove they assumed it hadn't been disturbed in a long time.

They all looked at each other before Ryuu finally opened the door. Inside they found a staircase, which definitely surprised all of them. "So… going up?" He asked while looking at the others.

"One second." Lissana said as she was scribbling something on her parchment. "Okay. Now we can." She said while looking up and tucking her quill behind her ear.

They made their way down the stairs, which luckily had magical lights that lit up when they got close enough. "I wonder how long these lighting charms have been here…" Hino said thoughtfully.

"They kind of remind me of the charms in the Hufflepuff dorm." Zissa said with a curious look.

"Huh. Now that you mention it they do." He agreed.

When they reached the top of the stairs they all paused and looked around in surprise.

"All of this is… gardening stuff." Shiko said while blinking at all of the stuff in the room. "Old gardening stuff but still…"

It was all covered in a lot of dust but nothing had rusted or broken yet, so they all assumed there had to be some kind of spell on all of it. At the other end of the room there was another door, this one made of a light wood and covered in sculptures of flowers and other plants.

Hino walked up to the door and opened it. "Wow…" He said while blinking at the garden that was in front of them. It was a little over grown but it was huge! And there were so many plants. They looked up and saw that they were outside. "It's a garden on the roof…" He said while blinking in surprise.

"But we didn't see it from the Astronomy Tower." Rikka said with a slight frown.

"It probably has some kind of cloaking charm or something on it so that it can't be seen." Draco said as they all stepped out into the fading light.

"It looks like it needs some help. It's rather overgrown." Zissa said with a slight frown as she looked at all of the plants.

"Well, you could help it Zi. You are a good gardener after all." Hino said while patting his sister's shoulder, making her blush a little bit.

Ryuu grinned a little as he saw Lissana drawing like crazy as she walked around. "Well, I think we did good today. I mean we found this garden. Even if we didn't find anything else."

"It's going to take all year until we reach the dungeons at this point though." Draco said thoughtfully. "This is only the second floor we checked." He reminded him.

"I know Dray. But we'll get there eventually." He said while patting his friend's shoulder soothingly. "Besides, isn't it better to know that we found everything rather than missing something?" He told him with a cheeky grin.

"I hate it when you're right." The silver eyed boy grumbled.

"We all do." Hino said while rolling his eyes.

"Well, stop being wrong and I'll stop being right." The blue and green eyed boy said with a slight smirk.

"You arse." All but Zissa grumbled at him.

"Why thank you." He said while grinning at them. He looked up at the setting sun and then at his watch. "We should head back. Dinner is in about an hour or so." He told all of them. "And I think we all want to take a shower, at least I do." He wrinkled his nose a little bit while pulling his sweaty shirt away from his body.

"Tell me about it. I'm ready for a nice long shower. Though a bath would be even better." Rikka said with a mournful sigh. "I have to go months without a good soak." She complained.

"You're not the only one." Lissana reminded her.

"Think we could find a secret room that has a bath?" Kiko asked curiously as they were making their way down the stairs back to the castle proper.

"I'm sure we can find something." Ryuu reassured his sisters. "I mean think about it. A school this big can't _not_ have baths somewhere." He told them as they made their way down the halls.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

They all parted to head to their own dorms and Shiko had skipped ahead of Ryuu and Draco. She claimed she didn't want to be seen with two sweaty boys, Ryuu just thought she wanted some alone time. Not that he blamed her, everyone needed some time to themselves.

"So Dray, doing better after that run up the stairs?" He asked his friend playfully.

"Actually I am." Draco frowned thoughtfully as they walked. "You and your siblings are in rather good shape."

"Yes, well, before we came to Hogwarts we were learning martial arts. So we like to stay in shape. We've slacked a bit this week but I at least practice my stances and forms every night before I go to bed and every morning right after I wake up." The blue and green eyed boy explained.

The blond hummed thoughtfully. "Could you… perhaps teach me a little of this stuff? It never hurts to be in shape and when you broke Weasley's nose it was quite spectacular." He said, trying to seem nonchalant.

Ryuu threw an arm around his friend's shoulders and grinned. "Of course I'll teach you Dray. What are friends for?" He asked playfully. "We'll start tonight."

"Tonight?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes. I'll teach you some of the basic stances and have you practice those. The sooner the better." He told him. "And then we'll work on building up your endurance. We'll do running in the mornings, that way you can actually keep up with all of us as we run around the castle. It'll take a while, but I think I can turn you into a fighter yet. Or at least bulk you up a bit." He said with a grin.

"Oh shut up." Draco said while rolling his eyes. "I'm not a complete push over you know."

"Whatever you say." He said with an amused smile.

The silver eyed boy shook his head as they entered their dorm and made their way to their rooms. "You're going to teach me everything you know about fighting." He insisted.

"That's gonna take a while Dray. But I'll do it." Ryuu promised. _"And along the way I'll also learn all of your secrets."_ He thought with an amused smile as they parted to go to their respective rooms to each take a shower.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The next week passed much like the first with the added fighting lessons to Draco and Ryuu's schedules, and of course when Shiko found out about them she insisted on 'helping' teach Draco. Though the blond argued that she just liked beating him up, which Ryuu didn't dispute.

Their exploration of the castle was going well too. Along with the secret roof-top garden (which Zissa seemed to have adopted as her own) they found a sitting room that had big comfy couches and chairs, a fire place, and a door that led to a balcony that over looked the lake. The girls had all insisted on naming the rooms they found, so this room was dubbed the 'Lakeside Sitting Room', of course the three boys just rolled their eyes at this, but they didn't say anything. They also found what appeared to be a room that had been used for dueling, which they called the 'Dueling Chamber', and they had found an old, unused, room that had a large, bathtub in it. The tub was so big it could fit all five of the girls in their Naga forms. They had called this room that 'Narga Bath Room', bath and room being two different words because it wasn't a bathroom, it was just a room with a bath in it. Most of the other rooms they had found didn't have anything too spectacular in them, they were just old classrooms that hadn't been used in years.

Things picked up a little on Wednesday when the children received letters from their mother and their friends from back home. It was mostly normal stuff, telling them what everyone was up to. Though Ryuu's letter told him about the ordeal at the bank and how the goblins would be repossessing anything that his parents had owned. It also told him about how she had told Remus who he was a dear friend of his deceased birth parents and how the werewolf would be more than willing to tell him anything he wanted to know about the people how had died for him.

There were a few arguments with Weasley, luckily none of them ended with physical violence, or maybe it was unfortunately? Potter was mostly an observer, but he did sometimes speak up for his friend and he did a lot of glaring.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

"She hasn't done anything yet!" Rikka complained while throwing a rock as hard as she could into the lake. "The rat is still there and it's really starting to annoy me."

It was Friday, after classes, and the Narga family was sitting out by the lake talking. "Perhaps you should put more pressure on her?" Hino suggested.

"How!?" She asked with a scowl. "We told her our snakes were reacting badly around the rat and she asked us a few questions, we even made a point of telling her that they didn't act that way around the rats we fed them."

Kiko nodded in agreement. "So how are we supposed to make her do something?" She asked with a scowl of her own.

"Hm… well you could try to do something about it." Ryuu suggested.

"But what?" They both asked.

"I've been doing some research." Lissana said, catching all of their attention. "And I think the rat might be an animagus. It's the only thing that makes sense. So really it's a person in the form of the rat. Like how Professor McGonagall is a cat animagus."

"You really think so?" Zissa asked curiously.

"Well, it's the only thing I can think of." She shrugged a little bit. "Here." She pulled a book out of her bag and showed it to them. "This is the spell that will turn an animagus back into their human form. It's actually fairly easy, it just takes a little bit more power than most wizarding spells. I'd say about as much magic as some of the more complicated Parselspells we've done." She explained.

Both of the Gryffindor girls pulled the book closer to themselves and looked over the spell and started doing the wand motions and muttering the incantation under their breath. "So… we just cast this at the rat? And if it's not an animagus?" Kiko asked.

"Then it won't do anything. So there's no harm if I'm wrong." She explained. "Though I don't think I am wrong."

"Of course you're not. You do too much research to be wrong." Shiko said with an amused smile. "So the rat probably is an animagus." She turned to Rikka and Kiko. "Be sure to reveal the rat in front of everyone. That way no one can argue with you."

"How exactly are we supposed to explain how we came up with the rat being an animagus?" Kiko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The truth. Tell them that your sister, the one in Ravenclaw, suggested using the spell because she though that might be the reason your familiars were freaking out about the rat." Ryuu said with a shrug as he dipped his feet into the water. "When you're lying it's always good to put in some truth, makes it harder for people to discern the lie." He told them with a sage like nod.

The other six all exchanged looks before shoving him in the lake, making him cry out and lurch out of the cold water. "What the hell!? What was that for?!" He yelled while wringing out his clothes.

"For acting like a prat." Hino said with a grin.

He narrowed his eyes at them before smirking. "Well, I guess you guys won't mind getting wet, now will you?" He asked while drawing his wand. All of his siblings' eyes widened before they turned tail and ran. "Get back here you cowards!" He yelled while storming after them.

Zissa was the slowest because she was the smallest, but she made up for it with her exceptional dodging skills, so Ryuu didn't bother going after her. But Lissana was a different story. She was fast, like those Muggle runners, but she generally ran in a straight line, making her the easiest target. He pointed his wand at her and was about to cast a water charm that he'd read about at her but she made a sudden turn, making her skid a little in the process, Ryuu doing the same as he followed her. But unfortunately she had turned right into Professor McGonagall.

Both the professor and student made slightly strangled sounds as they fell to the ground. Ryuu barely avoided running into them and then stared in shock and a little bit of horror.

"What," the professor said sharply, "is going on here?" She asked as she pulled herself up and then helped Lissana to her feet.

"Ah… sorry Professor. My siblings and I were playing down by the lake and I got pushed in. I was just trying to get a little harmless revenge." Ryuu said with a sheepish smile. "We didn't see you there. I'm sorry."

She looked over his damp appearance and then down at Lissana who was blushing and looking down in shame. "Well, as long as it was all in good fun and no one was hurt." She waved her wand and Ryuu, causing him to dry up immediately. "But do try to look where you're going next time." She told them sternly.

"Yes Professor." They both chorused before running off again, heading back towards the lake where their siblings were waiting for them.

"That was close. We're lucky it was McGonagall." Hino pointed out while watching the teacher head back towards the castle. "Can you imagine if you'd run into Snape?" He asked.

"Professor Snape isn't so bad. He might have taken points away to keep up appearances but I think he would have given them back in some way or another." Ryuu insisted.

"I guess… You probably see a different side of him since you're part of his house so I'll take your word for it." The Naga boy agreed.

"Now…" Ryuu clapped his hands together, catching his siblings' attention. "Revenge is mine!" He cackled evilly and pointed his wand at the lake. **"Levitate."** He hissed and then dumped a good amount of the water onto their heads, making all of them scream at the cold water. "Ah. Revenge is so sweet." He said with a grin.

"Merlin, this is cold!" Kiko cried while shivering a little bit.

Before any of them could get too warm Ryuu pointed his wand at them and hissed a warming charm that warmed them all up. "I'm an arse but I'm not cruel. I know better." He reassured them. "Though I suggest we all head in, it's better if you all get out of those we clothes." He grinned. "I'll see all of you at dinner!" He then turned and ran back into the school. He heard angry yells and footsteps behind him so he booked it to the dungeons.

Once he was in his common room he didn't stop until he was safely in the boys' dorm. Then he let himself laugh as he headed to his room. Before he could reach the door Draco came walking down the hall with a raised eyebrow. "Why did your sister just run into the common room soaking wet and cursing your name?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, no reason. I just dumped several gallons of lake water on her and the rest of my siblings." He said with a grin as he opened his door. "And before you say anything, they pushed me into the lake first." He defended.

The blond rolled his eyes. "Well, she's steaming mad." He told him.

"Yeah. I figured that much out for myself." Ryuu said with a snicker. "I do believe I've started a war with my siblings. Six on one. Should be interesting… I need to keep my eyes in six different directions."

"They're going to tear you apart." Draco pointed out.

"Oh, I know. Don't worry. I'm not an idiot, Dray. I know they're going to tear me a new one. But the looks on their faces… it was worth it." He insisted with a grin. "But I'll let them get their revenge. Then in a few months I'll get them back. And thus the cycle will continue."

The other boy raised an eye brow. "When does it stop?"

"Hm… until our mother makes us." The mostly human boy said with a slight shrug.

"Must be fun…" He mumbled thoughtfully.

Ryuu looked up at his friend and tilted his head slight to the side. "Would you like to help me get them back in a couple of months?" He asked.

Draco's head snapped up from where he'd been examining the floor. "No I… couldn't I mean that's a sibling thing." He said with a shake of his head, causing his hair to get all mess up.

"Not really. Our friends, Ilno and Nol would often times get caught up in these pranking wars, that or they joined in later because they thought it was fun." He corrected. "So you could join in if you wanted to. It'll be fun."

The silver eyed boy considered the offer for a few moments before running his fingers through his hair. "Well… it does seem fun…"

"Then it's settled! You're on my team." Ryuu wrapped and arms around his friend's shoulders and smiled. "Well, I'm going to take a shower and get changed before dinner. Even if I'm not wet anymore I still feel dirty from all of that lake water." He said with a slight shake of his head. "I'll be out in a bit."

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The next day Rikka and Kiko had come up with a plan to reveal the rat, and they had it planned for first thing in the morning so that everyone would be there to witness it. Kiko stroked Sagi's head as he rested on her shoulders. **"Are you sure you're okay with this?"** She hissed at him worriedly.

 **"** **I'll be fine. Besides, if someone tries to step on me I'll just become too big for them to."** He insisted.

 **"** **I'm still worried… be careful okay?"** She hissed with a frown while scratching his chin.

 **"** **I will. I promise."** The two girls watched as the snake slithered up the stairs to the boys' dorms. They were both sitting in the common room in front of the fire with some books in front of them to make it seem like they had gotten up early to study.

"Everyone is going to hate us." Rikka said with a thoughtful look before smirking. "Oh well." She shrugged a little bit.

"Hush." Kiko said as they waited.

It took a little bit but finally they heard, "AH! Scabbers! Leave him alone you bloody snake!" There were a lot of crashing sounds and more shouting from Weasley and others.

 **"** **Alright."** Rikka murmured to Kinoyuki, who then slithered up after the other snake.

"AGH! Scabbers!" People were coming downstairs to see what was wrong, and then they watched as the rat came running with Sagi and Kinoyuki close behind it with all of the first year Gryffindor boys following close behind them.

The two Narga girls jumped to their feet and pointed their wands as people scrambled out of the way of the animals. Both girls cried out the spell just as the portrait slammed open and McGonagall came running in, another student had probably gone to get her when chaos ensued.

Everyone watched in surprise as the rat, Scabbers, turned into a short, somewhat pudgy, balding man. The two snakes that had been chasing him hissed and slithered around him, making him very nervous and jittery.

"Peter Pettigrew?" McGonagall gasped while falling back in surprise, her eyes wide.

"We told you there was something wrong with that rat Professor." Rikka said, her and Kiko still pointing their wands at the man.

The woman looked at the two girls and then the two snakes that were still hissing at the man and keeping him away from the other children. She pulled her own wand out and cast a stunner at the man. "What is going on?" She asked while looking at the two girls who were putting their wands away and then over at Mr. Weasley who looked pale and a little sick to his stomach.

"You weren't doing anything about the rat, Professor. We were worried about it so we talked to our brothers and sisters about it." Kiko explained.

"Lissana said she was pretty sure that the rat was an animagus, meaning it could be extremely dangerous if not taken care of." Rikka continued.

"So we learned the animagus revealing spell and took things into our own hands." Kiko finished. "We're sorry that we didn't say anything, but we didn't think you would believe us." She said as Sagi slithered up onto her shoulders, Kinoyuki doing the same with Rikka.

"You… why I never…" She looked at the crumpled form of Peter Pettigrew and let out a sigh. "Ten points to each of you for taking initiative. But I must warn you from doing something so reckless again. This could have gone very wrong in many ways." She told them.

"We understand Professor. It won't happen again." Kiko promised while Rikka nodded in agreement.

Professor McGonagall nodded a little bit and then turned to the stunned man with a frown on her face. She knew the implication that the man being alive meant. She levitated him and started heading towards the portrait entrance. "I'll answer questions later." She turned to leave but then Ron seemed to snap out of his daze.

"Wait!" He cried out while stepping forward. "What… you're not even going to punish them?! They set their snakes on my pet, even if he was an animagus they didn't know that!" He insisted.

"Mr. Weasley, they had reason to believe that your pet wasn't what he appeared to be. And I do not believe they would have let him be eaten if they were wrong. Right girls?" She asked while eyeing the sisters.

"Of course not, Professor. If nothing had happened when we cast the spell we would have called back our familiars." Rikka reassured her.

"Now, I must go. I'll come back later tonight to answer any questions." She repeated before turning and walking out of the dorm with Pettigrew floating behind her.

Weasley wheeled on the two Narga girls as they were cooing and smiling at each other's snakes. "What is wrong with you!? Your psycho pets could have killed someone!"

They both glared at him as their snakes hissed angrily. "They're not beasts Weasley. They're our familiars. They listen to us and love us. They're not going to do something that would get us in trouble or hurt someone if it's not to protect us." Kiko said with a scowl.

"Don't insult our familiars. That's as stupid as insulting our family. And believe me, we'll do more than just break your nose." Rikka hissed at him, making the redhead flinch back a little bit.

"You heard her." A redhead that looked older than Ron wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Ikle Ronnie-kins." Another redhead, who looked almost exactly like the first one, finished.

"Fred! George!" The youngest said while yanking away from them. "Whose side are you on?!" He asked angrily.

"Well, you're being a prat," one started.

"So not yours," the other finished.

"We deeply apologize."

"For our little brother."

"Please don't let his stupidity."

"Reflect on us." Each of them grabbed one of the girl's hands and kissed the back.

Rikka blinked in surprise and then blushed a little as she yanked her hand back. Kiko turned red but waited for her hand to be let go. "We'll try not to." The brown haired girl said as he sister rolled her eyes a little bit.

"Well, I'm Fred." The brother on the right, the one that had grabbed Rikka's hand, said.

"And I'm George." The one of the left said with a slight grin.

"Rikka." The white blonde said while crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm Kiko." The other girl said with a slight tilt of her head. "It's nice to meet you."

"Sure. Whatever you say." Rikka muttered with a frown.

"Aw. Why do you seem to be so mean Rikka?" Fred asked with a slight pout.

She just glared a little at him. "I think she's a little… adverse to the name Weasley at the moment. That and you kissed the back of her hand without warning." Kiko said thoughtfully, making her sister scowl and shove her.

"Don't act like you know everything in my head." Rikka complained while gently shoving her sister.

The twin boys snickered a little as they watched the girls. "Just so you know-"

"Don't want to hear it, Weasley #1." The white blonde said to Fred. "I'm heading out. I'll see you later." She waved at her sister and then walked out of the portrait, the inability to change into her Naga form was affecting her just like the rest of her Naga siblings, even if it wasn't in the same way as the rest. She was getting more and more cranky the longer she was in her human form.

Kiko let out a sigh and shook her head a little bit. "Ignore her. She's just hasn't been sleeping well." She smiled apologetically to the boys. "I'm going after her. I'll see you later." She waved at the two boys and then hurried after her sister. They needed to tell everyone about how the plan had gone.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

After the Narga children talked about how the rat had been discovered to be Peter Pettigrew (which everyone in the school knew about by the end of breakfast) they headed out with Draco again to explore the castle. That day they didn't find much except for a locked door that no matter what they tired refused to open. They were planning on coming back later and trying again later but for now they were done with it. Though because they spent most of their time at the locked door they didn't find anything else.

The rest of the weekend consisted of conversation surrounding what came out in the papers the day after Pettigrew was discovered. It turned out that with the discovery of the rat, Sirius Black was proven innocent. The Ministry was stumbling over itself to try and make up for wrongly imprisoning the man (who was currently at St. Mungos seeing a mind healer). Ryuu had frowned when he had read about how Sirius had been put in Azkaban without a trial. It was stupid that they would do something like that but he supposed the human government was very poorly managed.

But it seemed everything was going fine. The rat wasn't upsetting his sisters anymore and the girls were all planning to go to the bath they'd found to finally transform back into their original forms and stretch. So he was feeling pretty good about himself. Not to mention Draco was doing pretty well in his marital arts considering it had only been a week. He picked it up really fast and was rather enjoying himself.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Remus couldn't believe it. Sirius was innocent and Peter was the actual one to betray the Potters. He just… couldn't believe it. What he couldn't believe even more was when he got a letter from St. Mungos to come and get the man. Apparently he wasn't fit to be left alone after his time in Azkaban. Which of course made sense, no one would be in their right mind after spending ten years in that hellhole they called a prison.

He took a deep breath as the healer stepped out of Sirius's room. "He's doing very well considering how long he spent around the Dementors. I've seen men doing far worse after being then for a far shorter time. That being said, he is not ready to be on his own. He will likely have panic-attacks often along with nightmares. He's been out of touch taking care of himself for so long that it will be hard for him to get back to it. I would like you to bring him in bi-monthly for check-ups." He paused here and gave Remus a once over. "Are you _sure_ you want to take him in? You don't have to. He can remain here and we'll do our best to get him back to normal."

The werewolf instantly shook his head. "No. I'll take him in. He's my friend, one of my best friends… I'm not going to abandon him in his time of need." He insisted.

The man nodded a little in understanding and what appeared to be approval. "Then you are free to see him." He then turned and walked away to leave the two friends to talk and try to catch up with each other in private.

Swallowing a little Remus opened the door and walked in. Sirius was lying in a bed looking like absolute crap. He was thin with dark circles under his eyes, his hair was to his shoulders and looked like it had been recently cleaned. But what was absolutely ridiculous about the whole situation was that the sick looking man was glaring at the hospital clothes he was wearing and muttering about 'all the bloody white' in the room. He couldn't help it… He burst out laughing. "Oh, Remy. Didn't see you there." The dog animagus said with the wolfish grin he'd always had. Even if it did look a little strange on his too thin face.

Remus swallowed again and then wrapped his arms around his last living friend from his school days. "Siri… I'm so sorry. I believed you were a traitor. I'm so sorry." He apologized while hugging the man as tightly as he dared.

"It's okay Moony. It's not your fault." Sirius said, sounding a little choked up before he pulled back a little from the hug and smiled. "You're looking good, mate. Really good." He told him.

"Thank you. You look like crap but I'm sure we'll have you back to your normal self in no time." He said while patting the man's shoulder. Even though he said that he was a little nervous… there had been some conditions to Sirius coming to live with Remus. Since almost everyone on their street wasn't human, except for a very few who were married to a creature, Valdir told him that he wouldn't risk the families that lived there. If Sirius couldn't handle living in piece with non-humans they would have to find somewhere else to live and Sirius would have to have his memory erased. Remus was almost positive that wouldn't happen but ten years in Azkaban was a long time and things could have changed.

"Hey! I'm just as fetching as ever." The man said in an overly dramatic way while flipping his hair comically.

Remus snorted at that. "Right. So 'fetching' you'll give children nightmares."

Sirius put a hand over his heart and made a pained face. "Oh Moony! Your cruelty! It's killed me!" He flopped back against the pillows and stuck his tongue out in a 'dead' manner.

He rolled his eyes and then smiled a little. "Well, Padfoot, I'm sure you want to get out of here." He picked up a bag he'd brought with him and held it out to the other. "I brought you some clothes. And don't complain about them. Be happy I'm being so kind." He teased as the other grabbed the bag.

"Well, at least you got my color right." Sirius said with a chuckle as he took out a black long sleeved shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants (all from a Muggle shop). "So where do you live anyways?" He asked curiously as he got out of the bed and stared changing.

"That's a surprise Siri. You'll know when we get there." Remus said with an amused smile, though he was a little pensive about all of this and just hoped it all worked out.

"Aw. Can't you give me some kind of hint, Remy?" The sick looking man asked with a pout as he pulled a cloak around his shoulders.

"Nope. Now come on. I still need to sign you out. Then we'll head over to my place."

"Oh alright." He grumbled, looking a lot like a sulking child.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

When he finally got Sirius signed out of the hospital they took the floo back to his home. He had asked Sessina to come over and meet Sirius first since she tended to do a little better with strangers than a lot of the others. He also (very apologetically) asked her to be in her human form at first so they could ease Sirius into it. She had understood and promised to have a meal ready for them when they came. Which of course she did.

Sirius literally started drooling when he stepped through the floo and saw the feast that was laid out on the table. There was ham, roast, steak and potatoes, vegetables of all kinds, there were also a couple of kinds of pie as well.

"Hi." Sessina said with a sheepish smile as she set another pie down (that made five pies on the table now). "I didn't know what you liked, I forgot to ask Remus before he left, so… I just made a bit of everything." She said while wiping her hands on the edge of her apron. "With a preservation charm it'll all keep for quite a while so at least none of it will go to waste." She smiled a little brighter as she looked at Sirius and held her hand out to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sessina."

The dog animagus grinned widely as he shook her hand before turning to look at his friend. "So you went and got a wife. Good for you Remy! A real looker _and_ it appears she's a fantastic cook!"

Remus turned red, along with Sessina. "N-no. Sessina isn't my wife. She's my neighbor. We're friends." He said while shaking his head.

"Oh…" Sirius looked between the two blushing people in the room. "Well, you both look like teenagers that have a crush on each other but haven't told the other about it yet. But that's just my opinion. Is that steak?" He asked while grabbing a plate and started to put food on his plate.

Sessina glanced at Remus at the same time Remus glanced at her. Their eyes met for a moment before they both turned a rather unhealthy shade of red and looked away from each other. "Are you sure you should be eating so much Sirius? Your stomach probably isn't used to so much food so fast." She told him.

"Aw. But it all looks so good." He complained. "I'll be fine." He insisted while waving it off.

"How about this. You eat a little bit every hour rather than shoving it all down your throat all at once?" She suggested while taking his plate away from him, which made him whine pathetically. "No." She set the plate to the side and made up a new plate for him, this one with much less food on it. "Don't worry. You'll get to eat more later." She promised.

Sirius pouted at her. "You're a mother aren't you?" He asked.

"Yep. Of seven little ones. So I suggest not trying to argue with me. I know all of the tricks." She said while setting the plate in front of him.

"Seven? Wow that's a lot of rug-rats running around." He said while taking a bite of ham she had placed in front of him. All other conversation was cut off at the moment as Sirius moaned at the wonderful taste and became completely consumed with his food.

Sessina and Remus sat down to eat a little as well, though once Sirius was done they had some business they needed to talk about. "Siri." Remus called to get his friend's attention. "There's something we need to talk about."

"What is it?" He asked as they made their way into the sitting room, away from the distracting food.

"We'll… it's the reason I'm able to live here in this house without worrying about my… little furry problem." Sessina smacked him upside the head when he said that and he yelped. "It's what we always called it when I was younger." Remus insisted while rubbing the side of his head. "You didn't have to whack me upside the head."

"Well, don't refer to it as a problem." She said while crossing her arms over her chest. "You know it's not a problem." She told him with a huff.

"Are you sure the two of you aren't together?" Sirius asked as he looked between the two.

"We're not." They both said a little too quickly, making the dog animagus chuckle in amusement. "Anyway!" Remus said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Back to the reason I'm able to live here despite being a werewolf." He said, making Sirius sober a little bit at the serious tone. "This street, almost everyone on it isn't human." He explained, making Sirius's eyes widen and then turned to Sessina with a mildly curious look.

She transformed back into her Naga form and ran her fingers over her tail a little bit. "Whoa." Sirius breathed and then turned back to Remus. "Everyone?" He asked.

"Almost. Except for a few humans who are married to creatures." He confirmed.

"And they don't have any plans to destroy the human race or anything like that?"

"Nope. We all just want to live in peace without the Ministry trying to kill us for breathing." Remus promised.

"Well, then, I'm cool with it." He eyed Sessina's tail. "Though it may take me a bit to adjust… by the way what are you?" He asked her curiously.

"A Naga. A half snake." She explained. "Six of my children are Naga like myself and my seventh child was adopted so he isn't a Naga. He also hasn't come into his snake traits yet. So he looks human."

"Huh. I thought Naga were really rare?" The Black asked, having been raised into a Dark family Sirius had quite a knowledge of dark spells and 'dark' creatures.

"We're not exactly walking around revealing ourselves to humans." The Naga pointed out and he nodded a little in understanding.

"Okay… well what else can I expect to run into? I don't want to seem rude when I meet all these people." He pointed out.

"You're taking this all rather easily." Sessina pointed out with a thoughtful look.

"Well, one of my best friend's is a werewolf and I know better than most how badly the Ministry can mess up." Sirius said, his face going serious at the mention of the government. "I'm not going to judge someone right away just because the Ministry say's their bad."

"It seems you've matured a bit." Remus said while patting his friend's shoulder a little bit. "Well, on the street there are other werewolves, Sessina and her children are the only Naga that live here, there's a couple of cyclops families, quite a few fey, some vampires, and no the vampires don't eat anyone, and a few other races sprinkled in here and there. Just don't stare at anyone or freak out when you meet them. As long as you do that no one will mind."

"Alright. I'll try." He hummed thoughtfully and then grinned. "So cyclops huh?"

The rest of the night went much like that for the three. They sat around talking and eating until they all decided to turn in for the night. Remus walked Sessina home (which got come catcalls from Sirius) and they all went to bed.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Ryuu was happy to see that after his siblings had the chance to transform, they were all doing much better. They were happier and less uncomfortable which allowed all of them to focus better on their studies and other personal matters. Their search of the castle and Lissana's map were going well. They still hadn't been able to get the door they'd found to open but they didn't go back to it every day anymore just when they came up with something new to try to open it. When they'd tried to blow it up they realized why that was such a bad idea. It had knocked them all back and emitted a low rumbling sound that sounded distinctly like a warning, they assumed if they tried to blow it up again, the door would do more than just knock them down.

Other than that they had found a few more interesting rooms. One was a library that was filled with books that either weren't in the library at all or were in the restricted section. Some of the books were dark but not all of them, in fact the vast majority of them were grey magic, magic that walked the line between light and dark magic. They all rather enjoyed the books, they made interesting reads to say the least.

They had also found a room that could change into anything they wanted it to be. That by far was the most interesting so far and they had spent an entire day in there, making it turn into several different things, like a forest, or a room where all of the walls were bouncy. It had been entertaining to say the least and they thought that it could be rather useful too if they used it right. Though now they were getting rather close to the ground floor and hadn't found much else, a few private balconies but mostly empty classrooms.

"I assume there will be more in the dungeons. All of this is the main part of the school." Draco reminded them. "It was meant to be school so the secret passages and such wouldn't be so much here." Though they had found some nifty passageways that they would be able to use to get to their classes more quickly, they were a little disappointed with how little they had found so far.

Their classes for the most part were going well, all of them, Draco included, were getting the top marks in all of their classes so far. It was a close thing but Lissana was doing better than them simply because she had more drive to learn than the rest of them. There were times that the Granger girl broke into their little rank of highest scores and they all acknowledged how smart she was, especially having no prior knowledge of the wizarding world before coming to Hogwarts.

Ryuu got a letter from Gringotts a couple of weeks after they'd contacted his mother telling him that they had repossessed all of the items that had belonged to his birth parents and they had been delivered to his mother. The next day he received a letter from his mother telling him that he would greatly enjoy some of the items and that she would leave those in his room for him to look over when they returned for the Yule holiday.

 **An: So as I said at the top I've been sick so if you see any glaring mistakes please tell me! And on that note a special thank you to Magitech for catching that mistake with the months last chapter! I changed it from September to November. So thank you very, very much! And thank you to Voice of the Riders for that compliment about my Snape. I always hate when people have Snape either too good or too bad, that's just not how he is. So I put A LOT of work into him even though so far you've only seen him briefly. I also have a special shout out for Stasia Ravenclaw for giving me the idea of how to get Sirius out of prison early! Thank you SOOO much! You're a doll and I love bouncing ideas off of you!**

 **I'd really like if you told me how you feel about the subtle, or maybe not so subtle, hints I've been dropping about Sessina and Remus. What do you think about those two finding happiness with each other?**

 **Also, because I don't think I'll ever get around to mentioning it in the actual story, Ryuu does not wear glasses. The adoption ritual fixed his vision, so because he never needed glasses they didn't know that he would have needed them if he hadn't been adopted.**

 **Oh jeez... I've been talking your guys' ears off... would that be accurate since you're reading? Well anyways! Rate and Review! Reviews make me very very happy!**


	7. Trolls, Quidditch, and Yule

**I'm alive! I am SO sorry for the late update! Life caught up with me and then this chapter... it just did not want to be written. Like at all. So... I'm soooo sorry!**

 **Chapter 6- Trolls, Quidditch, and Yule**

A little while after the news about Sirius Black being innocent came out the Narga children got a letter from Sessina explaining that the ex-convict was staying with Remus and they would be meeting him over Yule. It also warned them that Sirius had spent a decade in the worst prison on Earth and had a few… quirks. Since the man was one of Remus's best friends and didn't mind having non-humans as neighbors they had all felt they should give the man a chance. Besides if he was going to be living on the street they would have to get used to him.

"Think he's alright?" Rikka asked while reading over the letter.

"Well he did spend a long time in Azkaban. So we can't expect him to be normal or okay right away." Lissana said thoughtfully.

"Well from what Mama said he seems to be okay with the way our street is. If he wasn't Valdir would have kicked him out." Shiko pointed out.

"So we should give him a chance. Besides, he is Remus's old friend. And if anyone on that street is protective it's him. You know how he is with pack-mates. Even if Sirius is his friend he'd never let someone dangerous be around his pack." Ryuu pointed out, making his siblings nod in agreement. "So now that, that's settled… let's go explore!" He grinned at the rest as they all got to their feet to continue with their exploration of the school.

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Ryuu officially loved Halloween. The teachers decorated the entire castle and made it pretty creepy looking. And those giant pumpkins! They were awesome! And the feast looked pretty good, except they could have backed off a bit on the sweets. He didn't want to rot all of his teeth out of his head or end up crashing from a sugar high later. He had done that before and it had _not_ been fun. Well the sugar high had been fun, the crash not so much. So he was pacing himself on the sweets, unlike many of his classmates who were shoving the candy in their mouths without thinking of the consequences they would face later.

"I wish they did something a little more for Halloween." Shiko said while licking a lollipop thoughtfully. "Like letting us dress up or something." She let out a slight sigh. "What a wasted opportunity." She said mournfully.

Draco and Ryuu both rolled their eyes at her. "Well maybe you could suggest it for next year?" Ryuu said while taking a bite of his liquorish wand. "I'm sure the headmaster will go for it. I mean he does seem a bit mad." He nodded to the old man who was wearing migraine inducing robes that were neon orange with neon pink skeletons on them.

"True…"

"Don't count on him listening." An older boy (a third year?) said with a slight shake of his head. "He doesn't listen too much to what us Slytherins say. He really only listens to Gryffindors completely. Though Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw would still have a better chance." He informed them.

Shiko scowled a bit. "That's just not fair." She hissed.

Ryuu set a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. I know you want to throttle him or yell at him or something but this is not the time to be getting worked up." He told her.

She huffed but nodded as she stuck the lollipop in her mouth and bit off most of it. "I know." She muttered around a mouthful of candy.

Draco went back his own treats as he saw that the crisis had been averted for now. "So I was thinking maybe when-" The blond never got the chance to finish because just them Professor Quirrell burst in screaming about a troll in the dungeon.

The screaming made Ryuu wince but he grabbed his sister and Draco's shoulders as they all rose to their feet. "Wait!" He shouted at them over the noise, making both of them look at him. "Stay close! We don't want to be separated! Besides it's probably safer here! The troll is in the _dungeon_ after all." He reminded them, making the two freeze as they seemed to remember where their dorm was.

"Silence!" Dumbledore yelled, causing everyone to stop screaming and look up at the headmaster. "Prefects will escort each house back to their dorm and the teachers will follow me to the dungeon to deal with the troll." He said calmly and everyone started to calm down now that they had a plan. It also helped that the man was calm about the whole thing.

Ryuu scowled and stood up on his seat. "What about the Slytherins? Our dorm is in the _dungeon_!" He called out, several of his housemates looking at him like he was crazy for speaking out like that, especially against the headmaster. It wasn't very Slytherin (not that he thought any of them were very Slytherin either). He also got several looks from teachers at the head table before they turned to look at the headmaster, as they seemed to remember where the Slytherin dorm was as well, much like how Draco and Shiko had reacted. Snape looked almost approving as he looked at the brave boy.

The headmaster stared for a few moments, seeming to be caught off guard by the sudden lull as everyone looked to him for what to do. "The Slytherin students shall remain here as we deal with the troll. Prefects be sure to guard the door." He said and everyone started moving again.

Ryuu snorted and sat down, the rest of his house doing the same, except for the prefects who took up posts at the door to keep the other students safe. "Was he planning on sending us down to the dungeons with a troll?" He grumbled while picking up a tart and taking a bite of it.

"I think you should be a little more focused on our housemates at the moment." Draco muttered to him as he nodded to the students around them.

The blue and green eyed boy looked up from his treat to his housemates, many of whom, were looking at him with thoughtful expressions. "What?" He asked. "I wasn't going into the dungeon when the teachers all seem to think this troll is a large enough threat that they all have to go. That would be stupid. Not to mention I have a rather high sense of self-preservation." He said with a shake of his head.

He had a feeling as many of them nodded in agreement, he had just gained some more respect from the rest of his house. At least he hoped that was the case. If it wasn't then he was pretty sure his entire house had its priorities pretty screwed.

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The day after the troll incident, everyone learned about what had happened in the girls' bathroom with Potter, Weasley, and Granger. Ryuu thought it was just stupid. What had the girl been doing out of bounds? He doubted she had gone to confront the troll. That was too stupid even for the most reckless Gryffindor. So then why had she been out and about? And how had Potter and Weasley known where to find her?

He was pretty sure he would never know the answers to these questions and that did annoy him, but there was nothing he could do about it. And it wasn't like he was suddenly going to worship the ground Weasley and Potter walked on just because they had defeated a mountain troll. He did notice though that Potter seemed to be standing on his own two feet a little more now rather than leaning so much on Weasley. He just wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing yet… Only time would tell.

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The first Quidditch of the season was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Quite frankly Ryuu was looking forward to seeing Gryffindor get their arses handed to them by his house team. He had always enjoyed Quidditch, their mother had even taken them all to a few games in the past. He was planning on trying out for the team next year. Until then he would just enjoy watching the games.

"Our house is so going to beat your house." Kiko said with a grin.

"Don't count on it Gryff." Shiko said with a grin. "We're totally going to win." Quidditch tended to bring out the competitive side of all of the Narga children and it seemed like it would be the only time that they would be adhering to the rivalry between their houses.

"Oh? You think your team is better?" Rikka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We _know_ our team is better." Ryuu said with a smirk. "Last I heard your team was still looking for a decent Seeker. Did you ever find one?" He asked mockingly.

"Well… even with a crappy Seeker our team will still kick your team's arse!" Kiko insisted.

"Whatever you say." The Slytherin girl said with a smirk.

The other three siblings were staying out of the argument, not wanting to be dragged in. They knew they would be later when their teams played, but until then they'd rather not get involved.

"Those four might very well start throwing punches if it comes to that." Hino said while letting out a sigh.

"They're all pretty intense about Quidditch aren't they?" Draco asked, he had decided to join the three siblings that currently weren't arguing.

"Yeah. Surprised you aren't defending your team with them." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Get into that with them? No way. I don't have a death wish. I'm too young for that. No, it's best I leave the sibling squabbling to the siblings." He said with a shake of his head.

"How smart of you. Because if you got involved in that… well I'm not sure there would be anything left." Lissana said with a slight shake of her head.

"How kind of you." Draco muttered with a slight shake of his head.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

As it turned out Slytherin ended up winning the match. But mainly because their Seeker wasn't fast enough. If anything he almost looked scared on his broom, so it had been an easy victory for the snakes. Honestly though if the lions had a better Seeker the match would have been really close.

"That's it! I'm trying out for Seeker next year!" Rikka said while throwing her hands into the air.

"Seriously?" Shiko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There's no way I could do worse than that idiot we have now." She growled. "I will be a great addition to the team." She said while standing up a little straighter.

"Well now I'm worried about next year." Draco muttered with a frown. "But I suppose the matches will at least be more interesting then."

"Damn straight they will." The girl said while crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't believe Wood let that idiot on the team! Let alone as Seeker! He would have been better off putting one of our Chaser girls in that position." She said with narrowed eyes.

"No arguments there. Whereas I would like to see our team win every year, it's no fun when the other team can't even put up a decent fight." Ryuu said with a shake of his head. "Though you should know that I'm planning on trying out for my house team next year." He informed her.

A vicious grin spread across Rikka's face as she looked at him. "Good. If your team captain has any sense at all then you'll get on the team. I want to beat the best." She then looked at Draco. "That means you too Blondie. You and Ryuu are some of the best fliers in our year. If you don't try-out for the team then they'll be bumming rather badly next year."

"Did you just… order me to try-out for my house team?" The silver eyed boy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Like I said. I want to beat the best team. So that means you and Ryuu have to be on that team. Get it?" She asked like he was stupid.

He chuckled in amusement. "Got it."

"Good." She turned and walked away while whistling. Next year would be rather interesting when it came to Quidditch. And she was definitely looking forward to it.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

As the weather steadily got colder Ryuu found that he had to nudge some of his siblings quite a few times during lessons to encourage them to stay completely awake. Even with the spell that helped them resist hibernating it was still cold enough in the castle to make them sleepy. Luckily not sleepy enough to actually fall asleep though, just drift a little bit. They all ended up using warming charms to help them stay warm enough to not doze, the fact their gloves, winter robes, and cloaks had extra warming charms on them also helped greatly. But even with all that whenever they had a class in the dungeons or had to go outside, they would be back to struggling to stay awake.

One day Draco finally voiced a question he'd had for a while now. "What's wrong with your siblings Ryuu? They're all struggling to keep their eyes open most of the time." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a family trait. They all have difficulty staying awake in cold weather. Something I don't have since I'm adopted. Don't worry. Warming charms are enough to help them stay awake." He said with a slight shrug.

"Okay… I've never heard something like that before." He said with an unsure look.

"You wouldn't have. It's not that big of a deal. Just ignore it, or help me poke them when they start to drift during class. Think you're up for the challenge?" Ryuu asked playfully while waggling his eyebrows a little bit.

"You are so strange. But yeah. I'll help you 'poke' them." The silver eyed boy said while rolling his eyes.

"Thanks. It was getting a little hard having to poke three of them at the same time." He said with a grin.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The first term of school was starting to come to a close. Yule break (which the rest of the school called Christmas break) was coming fast and all of the kids were eager to go home over the holidays. All except for Draco. He almost seemed to be dreading going home, even though he hid it well. But not quite well enough to fool his best friend.

"So… you don't want to go home?" Ryuu asked as they were doing some last minute revisions in his dorm room. They would usually do these revisions in the common room and with Shiko, but Ryuu wanted his friend to be honest. And the only way he would do that was if it was just the two of them.

The blond stiffened slightly before shrugging a little, they to seem nonchalant. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The mostly human boy snorted. "You don't have to tell me why but don't insult my intelligence by lying to me about it." He said while looking up from what he was doing to glare a little bit at the other boy. "So you're not looking forward to going home for Yule?"

Draco hesitated for a moment. "No. I'm not."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." He said flatly.

Ryuu nodded a little bit and turned back to his revisions. "So what do you think of this passage. I don't really like it." He said while holding his paper out for the other to read. He saw his friend relax a little while reading it over. _"I'm starting to think I know what's going on. But I do hope I'm wrong…"_

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Draco and Ryuu didn't talk about how Draco didn't want to go home for the holidays again. Mainly because Draco didn't want to and Ryuu didn't want to pry too hard and end up pushing his friend away. Ryuu also didn't mention it to his siblings, doubting that Draco would want any of them to know, even Shiko. And though Ryuu thought it might help to talk things over with his siblings he didn't want to betray his friend like that. So he kept his mouth shut about it and they continued with their everyday lives. Though one day this routine was broken by a girl named Pansy Parkinson.

Just as the three Slytherins were getting ready to leave and meet up with the rest of Ryuu's siblings, the girl stepped in front of them with the behemoths behind her. "Draco." She greeted and then turned to scowl at Ryuu and Shiko. "We'd like to talk to Draco alone." She told them while sticking her nose in the air in a very pompous way, making her face look _very_ unflattering in the light coming in from the widow leading to the lake.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh?" He turned to look at Draco. "Do you want to talk to them alone?" He asked curiously.

"Not really." The blond said with a slight scowl. "And it's not like we need to talk alone. Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of them." He nodded to the two Narga siblings that were standing close by.

Parkinson frowned and then huffed. "Why do you spend so much time with that lot? They're _weird_. You can see that can't you? The way they all act. Even though they seem to have some sense of how they should treat Gryffindors but most of the time they don't. I saw them being _polite_ to a group of Gryffs when they bumped into them."

Shiko snorted at the disgust on the other girl's face. "That look really isn't doing you any favors Parkinson. You should keep it off your face if you don't want it to completely disfigure your looks." She said while stepping closer to the other girl. "And what does it matter that we were polite. _We_ bumped into _them_. It's only proper to apologize when that happens."

"But they were _Gryffindors_."

Before Shiko could decide to escalate the argument Ryuu stepped between the two girls with a slight frown. "This is obviously a point we will never agree on. So how about we agree to disagree, yeah?" He asked while looking between the two girls, both looking rather angry. "Now Parkinson why does anything Draco does concern you? I can understand Crabbe and Goyle to an extent. I did kind of steal him away." He grinned a little sheepishly at the two boys, but his eyes were far too amused to be sincere in any way. "But why do you care?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh?" She cooed in a too sweet voice that made Ryuu want to do something murderous. "Did he not tell you?" She grinned over at Draco. "Is he not worthy enough to know that much about your private life?" She asked.

The blue and green eyed boy looked over at his friend who was frowning, a flush of embarrassment trying to make its way to his pale cheeks. "Dray?"

"It has nothing to with you, Ryuu. It's more I wanted to ignore it." He said with a slight shrug while crossing his arms over his chest. "Pansy and I are betrothed." He admitted, looking a little sick to his stomach. "We're due to be married when we graduate from Hogwarts."

"Hm." Ryuu turned back to the girl who was smiling smugly, as if she had somehow won. "What has you so happy?" He asked while leaning in close to her, his eyes dark and a scowl on his face. "Do you think that just because the two of you are betrothed you have some claim to him? That he can't hang out with people you don't approve of?" He asked her, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

The girl swallowed and then straightened up a little bit. "I…" She faltered for a moment and Draco took that opportunity to pull Ryuu away from her.

"Leave her alone Ryuu. She's just upset because I don't spend all my time with her." He said with a slight shake of his head as he pulled the other boy towards the door and then out of the dorm as Shiko followed closely behind, a scowl on her face.

"I don't like that girl." Shiko huffed. "I don't mind most of the other girls. I didn't even mind her all that much until today. Now I want to punch her." She grumbled. "You're really going to have to marry that when you graduate?" She asked as her nose wrinkled in disgust.

Draco shrugged. "We're betrothed, yes, but if someone better comes along I may have to marry them." He admitted with a slight frown.

"And if you don't want to?" The mostly human boy asked.

The blond boy snorted. "There is no 'I don't want to'. I marry who I'm supposed. Plain and simple." He shook his head a little and shrugged. When he noticed the two siblings both seemed to want to say something he raised a hand to cut them off. "Don't. It isn't worth getting worked up about." He told them.

"Whatever you say, Dray." Ryuu agreed while setting a hand on his sister's shoulder to keep her from saying something in rebuttal to that. She let out a huff but said nothing. Instead she stomped off ahead of the boys and started grumbling to herself. The blue and green eyed boy turned to his friend and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Let's hope someone better comes along that you like." He said while patting the other's shoulder.

"Yeah." He muttered doubtfully.

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On the day they were due to get on the Hogwarts Express to head back home the Narga children all got up early, eager to go home and see their family and friends. Draco followed Ryuu and Shiko to breakfast, their last breakfast at the school before heading home for the holidays, even though he wasn't as eager to leave as them. But he did want to spend as much time with his friends as he could before they parted for the holidays.

"I'm so ready for this break!" Shiko said as she was eating. "Don't get me wrong I think Hogwarts is wonderful but… well nothing can beat home, you know?"

"Don't worry, Shiko. I totally get it." Ryuu said with an amused snicker. He turned to Draco and raised a curious eyebrow. "What do you have planned for the holidays?"

He shrugged a little bit while taking a small bite of his eggs. "Nothing much. Just the normal things we do."

He had a feeling he didn't wouldn't like what 'the normal things' they did were. It would probably upset or irritate him. "Okay. Well, expect a present from me. And don't worry about getting us all something if you don't want to. There are too many of us." He said playfully while patting his friend's shoulder.

Draco snorted a little bit. "Don't patronize me, Narga. I have more than enough money to get you all something for Christmas."

"Aw! You do care!" Shiko said with a giggle. "Don't worry, Draco. I'll get you a present too." She promised.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Whatever you want to do Shiko." He said with a careless shrug. "If your lot is ready we should all get our things and head towards the train. We don't want to be stuck with an occupied compartment." He pointed out.

"True." Ryuu stood up to look over the Great Hall and see if the rest of his siblings were ready to go.

Before long they were they all headed out to get their things from their respective dorms before heading out to the carriages that would take them to the train.

"So… think we'll all fit into one compartment?" Hino asked as they were making their way down the train looking for an empty compartment. "These compartments are really only supposed to hold six. The seven of us managed to squeeze into one simply because we're still relatively small." He pointed out. "Not sure eight of us will fit."

"We could use two compartments. Four in each." Lissana suggested thoughtfully.

"That'll work. And we'll all be able to stretch out a bit more in our compartments rather than being squeezed in too close together." Rikka agreed with a grin. "Because I would really prefer not to end up having to sit on someone's lap or something."

They all agreed and then hunted down two compartments next to each other. They found two towards the end of the train and settled in for the long ride back to London, even though they had a little while until the train would start moving. But it gave them time to sort out their sitting arrangements so that was okay. Though the fact that the train had no heat yet, wasn't so okay for the six Naga that were snuggled up in their cloaks and scarves as they tried to stay warm.

Ryuu let out a sigh as he looked at his two sisters, Shiko and Lissana, who were sitting with him and Draco. They looked miserable and he didn't like it. He knew that the other four were probably in just as bad a shape in the compartment next door but there wasn't really anything he could do. So he did the only thing he could. He pulled off his cloak and wrapped it around the girls' shoulders to help fend off the cold.

Draco raised an eyebrow at his friend as Ryuu sat back down next to him. "The train should start moving soon. Then the heater should turn on." He said nodding to the vents at their feet.

"Well then the train needs to start moving." Shiko grumbled while pulling her legs up to her chest and hugging them. "Ugh. I hate the cold."

Lissana nodded in agreement while pulling Ryuu's cloak tighter around herself and Shiko. "It is awful. I think when I grow up I'm going to move somewhere warm. Like Egypt or somewhere like that. I have no idea why Mama would have ever picked England." She sniffed a little with a pout.

Ryuu shook his head a little bit and smiled sheepishly at his friend. "So… want to play chess?" He asked the blond while pulling out his chess board.

Draco eyed it with a slight frown. Everyone in Slytherin house had soon learned not to get in the way when Ryuu and Shiko played chess. They had also learned that the two were brutal with whoever they managed to get to play with them. "Well I don't know. Are you going to become a foaming at the mouth psycho? Or are you going to manage to keep it at your normal level of psycho?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

He laughed in amusement. "I'll keep it at normal levels." He promised with a grin.

"Alright. But the first hint of foam and I'm out of here." The silver eyed boy warned.

"Got it." Ryuu set the board out and they got to playing. It helped pass the time until the train finally started moving, making Shiko and Lissana cheer a little as they started to feel a little bit of warm air moving in through the vents. "Finally." He muttered to himself as he took Draco's other bishop. At this point he was just messing with his friend, he could win at any time but he was rather enjoying watching Draco scowl at the board and then glare at Ryuu. It was just amusing. "Checkmate." He said, finally deciding to put the other out of his misery, much to the human's relief.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

The train ride was mostly uneventful. They all wandered between the two compartments, talking and playing games. When the trolley lady came around they all bought some sweets to get them through the duration of the train ride. Though at one point most of them had fallen asleep from the warm air and sheer laziness. Even though the seats weren't all that comfortable, they were comfortable enough.

When the train was approaching London, Ryuu jerked awake and blinked around the compartment. Zissa and Shiko where sitting across from him (Lissana had gone over to the other compartment to talk with Rikka about something and Zisaa had come over to talk to Shiko about something). The two girls were leaning against each other as they slept, looking rather content.

As he tried to stretch he realized someone was leaning against him and looked down to see Draco's head leaning against his shoulder. _"Why am I surprised by this?"_ He asked himself as he settled back in his seat. He didn't bother waking the other, it wasn't like he was disturbing anything by being there, though it did mean that Ryuu was stuck until he decided to push the other away. Which he wasn't going to do. He had noticed that the closer they got to break the less sleep the other had gotten. Again he was good at hiding it. The only give away was a couple of extra yawns and the barely noticeable circles under his eyes.

Looking at his sleeping best friend he let out a near silent sigh. _"You're giving me more and more evidence that bad things happen to you at home, Dray. Soon I'll have to tell someone."_ But Ryuu wondered if that would even work. Draco's father was a very wealthy man and he was from an old pureblood line. So even if Ryuu reported his suspicions to someone would anything be done?

He shook his head a little bit to clear it. He was worried but there wasn't anything he could do right now so he might as well try not to dwell on it too much. Besides, he could be wrong. He doubted he was but he still could be. He could always hope, right?

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Dumbledore wasn't a happy man. He had just checked to make sure his Christmas present for Harry was ready and found that it was gone! Someone had taken it from his office! And the worst part was he didn't know how long ago. He hadn't checked on it in months! An invisibility cloak like that was one of a kind and couldn't be found anywhere else. He was planning on giving it to Harry for Christmas so that he could use it to find out what Voldemort was up to. And somehow he let it slip through his fingers!

He took a deep calming breath. He could work something out. He always did. So he turned his mind to something else that had been nagging at him since the beginning of the school year. The Narga children. The seven of them spent much of their free time together and with the Malfoy boy. That in itself wasn't disturbing, but they all possessed amulets that blocked their minds. He usually wouldn't mind so much a child being able to defend their mind, but the amulets were powerful and it worried him that he knew nothing about them other than what he had observed.

He knew they lived in the wizarding district near Diagon Alley, their mother worked in a bookstore on Knockturn Alley (which was a little worrisome but not overly so) and Ryuu was adopted. He had also noticed that Ryuu seemed to be the 'leader' of their group whenever they were all together. And then the way the boy had stood up during the troll incident and challenged him in front of the whole school like that… the boy had bravery that could rival most Gryffindors. A Slytherin with the heart of a lion? That couldn't end well. They could very well end up with another Voldemort on their hands, but worse.

Turning he frowned at the hat that sat on one of the shelves, looking oh so innocent. "Why did you place that boy in Slytherin? He would have done just as well in Gryffindor."

The hat made a very rude noise at that. "Just as well? I think not Albus. The boy is cunning through and through. He has ambitions even he doesn't realize he has and he's smart. He would have hated Gryffindor. No. He was made for Slytherin." The hat informed him.

Albus let out a sigh and shook his head a little bit. "I don't agree. He needs to be surrounded by the brave of heart, not the cunning."

"He has two siblings in Gryffindor. And honestly I believe he would much rather slit his own throat than to do something to harm them. Just because he is more cunning than anything does not mean you can ignore everything else Albus. The boy loves his family and would do anything for them. He is not another Dark Lord. He is too loyal a soul for something like that."

The headmaster frowned and turned away from the hat. He still didn't agree. That whole family was hiding something and he didn't like it. From what he had seen in the minds of the children's friends they were all good friends and seemed to be nice enough but they were always hiding something. "Perhaps I should have their amulets confiscated…" He murmured to himself. He had much to think on, and much to do. But first, he needed an invisibility cloak to give to young Harry for Christmas.

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"Alright, that's it. I can't feel my arm anymore." Ryuu muttered as the train was getting closer to London. Draco was still leaning against him, and at this point the circulation in the mostly human boy's arm had been cut off almost completely and he couldn't feel his right arm anymore. "Sorry, Dray." He jerked to the left and away from the blond, cause his head to flop onto the bench in a fairly painful way.

"Ow!" He jerked up, rubbing at his head, and frowned in confusion. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep on me." The blue and green eyed boy said while rubbing at his numb arm. "I lost all of the feeling in my arm so I had to move."

"And you couldn't have done it in a way that wasn't so painful?" The blond growled.

"Huh… now that you mention it…"

"Why you…!"

"Sh." Ryuu held a finger up to his lips and then nodded at his sleeping sisters. "They're sleeping."

Draco growled again before letting out a huff and leaning back against his seat. "You suck." He told him simply as he went back to rubbing his head.

"Come here." He waved his friend closer and Draco hesitantly complied.

"What?" He asked with a suspicious frown.

"Oh quit it. I'm not gonna hurt you or something." He said while rolling his eyes. He set his pointer and middle finger against the side of his friend's head and then barely hissed out a mild healing spell. And judging from the lack of reaction from Draco he had managed to keep his voice low enough to not be heard.

The blond blinked in surprise and then set a hand against his head and looked at Ryuu with a raised eyebrow. "What did you do?" He asked.

"A mild healing spell. One that can really only dull a small amount of pain. And before you ask I will not teach it to you because it's a family secret." He said with a grin.

Draco huffed because that was exactly what he was going to ask before he frowned a little in confusion. "How did you do that without your wand?"

Ryuu paused and cursed himself with every bad word he knew before shrugging casually. "I was taught that way. It's of course easier with a wand but with simple things it can be just as easy without a wand." He cursed himself again for his slip up. That was extremely stupid! _"But it's so easy to forget that Draco doesn't know. He's my best friend and doesn't even know what language I was raised with."_ He let out a soundless sigh of relief as Draco seemed to accept his explanation.

The silver eyed boy looked out the window and frowned. "We're almost there." He stated.

Ryuu looked out as well. "Yeah." He agreed. "I'd say the train should start slowing down any time now." He got to his feet. "I need to wake my siblings. We can't have them sleeping too long." He said with a grin before he went about waking his sisters up by ruffling their hair until they groaned and pushed him away. "Up and at 'em. We're almost at the station." He told them.

"Meh. Screw you." Shiko grumbled.

Zissa wiped her eyes and yawned while stretching away the sleepiness. "I'm up." She mumbled sleepily.

He chuckled at his sisters before heading out of the compartment to head next door and see if his siblings in there were awake or asleep. "Phew. I thought I was going to have to wake you all up." He said with a grin as he saw that his siblings were actually awake, though they did look like they hadn't been up for that long.

Rikka shrugged a little. "I woke them all up. I was bored." She teased with a grin. "That and we're getting close to London." She said cheekily.

"Shut up." Hino said while reaching across the compartment and poked her with his toe. "Did you have a nap too?" He asked his brother curiously.

"Yep. Though I woke up a while ago. I let the others sleep for a bit." He explained. "Well I'm going to head back since you're all awake." He smiled a bit. "I'm looking forward to the break from school." Leaving the compartment he headed back to Draco and his other two sisters. "So everyone's awake. Try to stay that way." He warned. "I don't want to have to kick anyone."

"Yeah right." The blond boy said while rolling his eyes. "You're too much of a sadist to not enjoy something like that."

Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "We're eleven. Where did you hear the word sadist?" He asked. "And how do you even know what it means?"

Draco shrugged a little. "I know things." He said simply, his face cold and mostly emotionless.

 _"_ _The mask again? I haven't seen that thing in months. So how he knows about sadists… has to do with his home life?"_ He wondered thoughtfully before lightly shoving his friend with a snicker. "Well however you know the word, I'm not a sadist. I don't enjoy causing pain." He insisted.

"Whatever you say." The silver eyed boy said with a careless shrug as his mask fell away as he relaxed.

"Not whatever I say. It's the truth." Ryuu said with a pout.

"Sure, sure. I get that." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Arse." The blue and green eyed boy muttered while gently shoving his friend in the shoulder.

Shiko and Zissa both snickered at their brother. They had noticed lately that Draco seemed to be one of the few people able to get their brother to act like that and get a genuine pout out of him. It usually took all of them actively trying to make Ryuu pout to actually get him to do so. But all Draco had to do was make the right comment and Ryuu would be pouting or frustrated in some way.

The green and blue eyed boy narrowed his eyes at the two girls and they both smiled innocently at him. "Oh, don't even." He said while rolling his eyes. "Especially you Shiko. Zissa can still pull off innocent. You not so much." He then promptly turned away from them to focus on Draco. That of course just caused the two girls to burst out laughing.

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The rest of the train ride passed happily as they all laughed at the stupidest things. When the train stopped the eight children got off and looked around for their families.

Hino suddenly swooped down and lifted Rikka up on his shoulders. "Do you see Mama anywhere?" He asked her as she gripped the top of his head tightly from the shock of suddenly being on his shoulders.

"Give me a second." She grumbled and then looked around. "Oh! There she is! Mama! Mama, over here!" She called out while waving her hands around to catch the woman's attention. "She's with Remus and another man. I assume he's Sirius Black." She said as Hino set her down.

"Are they coming this way?" Ryuu asked.

"Yep!" She grinned and just then their mother came through the crowd with the two men following close behind.

"My babies!" She pulled each of her children into a hug and then smiled a little at Draco. "And you must be Draco. Ryuu and Shiko write about you quite a bit. I'm happy to see my children have made a good friend."

The blond boy blushed a little bit and held his hand out to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am." He said politely.

"Such a polite young man." She shook his hand. "Please call me Sessina."

He blinked slightly in surprise and then nodded a little bit. "Alright. Sessina." He said a bit hesitantly.

The Naga woman laughed a little at the boy and then turned back to her children, most of whom where snuggled into their cloaks and looking rather tired. "Do you see your parents, Draco?" She asked him with a slight tilt of her head.

Draco looked around and then shook his head. "No. I don't. But that's alright. I'll be fine on my own for a while."

"Nonsense. We'll wait until your parents get here." Sessina insisted with a smile.

"Ah… thank you. That's very kind of you." He said with a slight bow of his head.

Ryuu wrapped an arm around his friend and grinned. "Do you want me to lift you up on my shoulders to try and find your parents?"

The blond glared at him. "Don't even think about it Narga." He said with narrowed eyes.

He snickered in amusement at his friend. "I wasn't going to. I know you have too much pride for that." He said with a grin while patting the other boy on the shoulder. "Relax a little." He told him, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Draco shrugged. "I'm just-"

"Draco." A cold and even voice called. They all turned to see a man with long, shoulder length, white blond hair and cold blue eyes staring at Draco. He did not seem happy, in fact he looked down right frightening.

Ryuu stiffened at the way the man was looking at his friend. It… almost scared him. And it definitely set him on edge. _"This is Draco's father… I really don't think my suspicions are wrong. This guy…"_

"Father." Draco said softly, his head bowed a little bit. He didn't look at all like the proud boy Ryuu had gotten to know. Instead he looked like a scared little boy. It was something Ryuu did _not_ like seeing.

The aristocrat narrowed his eyes at the arm Ryuu had around Draco's shoulders. "Come. We're going home." He said while looking down his nose at everyone in front of him.

"Yes, Father." He pulled away from Ryuu and grabbed his trunk. He glanced at his friend and then quickly looked away.

The green and blue eyed boy wanted to grab his friend's arm and demand that he come home with them and that he not go with the man beckoning him away to horrors he could only guess at. But he couldn't do that. He was powerless to help his friend. "I'll see you after break." He said quietly while smiling a little to try and give him encouragement. It was the only thing he could do in this situation, and it wasn't nearly enough.

"I'll see you then." He agreed softly, before moving over to his father, his head down and his eyes fixed firmly on the ground. He looked like a man walking to his death and it made Ryuu's desire to protect his friend even greater. But he held back, knowing he would only make things worse if he acted.

Lucius scowled at the boys' interaction before turning and walking away, Draco following closely behind. Not once looking up. But the mostly human boy did notice when the blond looked back at them before he was swallowed up by the crowd.

"Dray…"

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The trip back home was silent. No one knowing how to react after the interaction with Draco's father. Ryuu was scowling the whole time and once they were back home he let out an angry hiss that made Sirius jump a little bit in surprise. **"I don't like it! His father is an evil man! We literally met him for like five minutes and I can already tell!"** He cried out in frustration.

 **"** **Ryuu. Calm down."** Sessina said while setting her hand on his shoulder. "We have guests." She reminded him gently.

He took a deep calming breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry. I just… got worked up."

"It's okay Ryuu. I agree wholeheartedly." Shiko agreed with a scowl on her own face. "Draco didn't seem like himself. He seemed scared."

Everyone let out sighs of worry and frustration. "We should do something." Zissa said softly. "If he's being hurt…"

"His father is too rich and has too much influence. Even if we did say something nothing would come of it." Ryuu said in frustration.

As much as the adults in the room wanted to dispute that they couldn't. Lucius Malfoy just had too much influence in the government. "If this was a creature matter it would be so much simpler to deal with." Sessina said with a sigh.

"You could just call him out, there would be an investigation, and Draco would be taken away And even though that's how the human government is supposed to work it's become far too corrupt." Remus agreed.

Hino rubbed at his face and then looked around at all of his siblings. "As much as this sounds mean and… even a little cruel, there's nothing we can do about it. So how about you introduce us to our new neighbor?" He suggested with a slightly pained smile.

"Ah… yes. This is Sirius Black." The werewolf introduced. "He's going to be living with me for the foreseeable future. And don't worry, he's mostly comfortable with the whole non-human thing." He promised.

"I really only have a problem when they sneak up on me." The man said with a pout. "Do _all_ of you move silently?" He asked.

"We don't move silently Padfoot. We just move a lot quieter than humans." He countered while rolling his eyes.

Sessina shook her head a little at the men and then turned back to her children who all seemed to be doing a little better. "I'll get dinner started while all of you get acquainted. Be nice." She said while making her way into the kitchen.

"Hello Sirius. I'm Ryuunosuke. But you can call me Ryuu. I'm in Slytherin." The blue and green eyed boy said politely.

"I'm Hino! I'm in Hufflepuff." The other boy introduced.

"Rikka. I'm a Gryffindor." She said with a slight wave.

"I'm Kiko. I'm also a Gryffindor."

"Lissana. I'm the only Ravenclaw."

"And she's proud of it!" Shiko said with a laugh while wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders. "I'm Shiko and I'm also a part of the house of snakes."

"I'm Zissa. Also a Hufflepuff." She said softly.

"It's nice to meet all of you." The ex-convict said with a little grin. "I was a Gryffindor when I was in school. Had lots of fun running around and playing pranks with my friends." His smile turned a little sad, probably remembering his dead friends and the friend that betrayed them. He got a slightly haunted look and Remus set his hand on the man's shoulder, bringing him back from his depressing memories. "Ah… so… Christmas should be fun!" He said with a slightly strained laugh.

"Yeah. It should." Ryuu agreed and then leaned into the kitchen. "Mama, when are we going to the Alleys to shop for Yule gifts?" He asked.

"In a couple of days. You'll be going in pairs. I expect you all to behave." She told them while looking up from what she was making.

"Yes, Mama." They all said in unison.

"Good." She then turned back to what she was doing and Ryuu leaned out of the kitchen.

"We should all put our things away before dinner." The blue and green eyed boy pointed out.

"Yeah." Kiko agreed and they all grabbed the trunks and started muscling them up the stairs to their rooms.

"You guys do remember that you can turn back into your other forms while we're at home right?" Ryuu asked them all with amused smiles.

The six Naga children froze on the stairs as they realized they could and then most of them glared at him. "You could have told us this before we were on the stairs?" Hino asked with a glare.

"Nope." He said with a snicker as he continued up the stairs.

"Arse." The others all grumbled at him as they continued up the stairs. As soon as the kids were all up the stairs they transformed and let out happy sighs at being in their natural forms again.

Ryuu snickered. "If you had remembered you could have all relaxed downstairs." He reminded them.

"Oh shut up. It's been months. We're not used to it anymore." Shiko grumbled as they all took their things back to their rooms.

The mostly human boy paused when he saw a box at the end of his bed. He was curious, they were things that his parents had had but he would have time later tonight to look at everything. Right now they were going to be spending time with their mother, Remus, and Sirius.

"Those are the things Mama had repossessed?" Hino asked as he put his own trunk away.

"Yeah. I assume so anyways. I'll look through it later." He said with a slightly dismissive wave of his hand.

"You're not in the house of snakes anymore Ryuu. You can tell me that you're excited to look through the things from your birth parents." He told him while rolling his eyes.

Ryuu smiled a little sheepishly. "Yeah. I'm excited." He admitted while scratching his cheek a little bit. "I mean… Mama will always be Mama but… these people gave birth to me and sacrificed their lives for me." He said with a slight shrug.

"I may not completely understand but I feel that I understand enough." He said with a smile while patting his brother's back. "I'll also leave you alone to do it. I mean it is private." He said with a slight shrug.

"Thanks, Hino." He said with a smile while wrapping an arm around his brother's shoulders and grinning a little bit. "Now let's go. Mama's got to have dinner mostly done by now." He then directed his brother down the stairs to the kitchen. "Food?" He asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Yes. Food." She said as the girls entered the kitchen as well. "We're having our special curry." She set two pans of curry on the table along with a large pan of rice. "Sirius, this smaller one is for you and Ryuu. The meat is cooked in it. While the rest of us are having a bloodier version of it." She explained with a smile.

"O…kay." He said with a slight frown of confusion.

"Don't worry about it, Sirius." He waved his hand carelessly. "This lot likes their meat bloody. It's just the kind of creatures they are."

The man looked at the boy as he was making up his plate. "Yeah. I get that I guess. I mean I did notice how Remus liked his meat when we were younger." He admitted thoughtfully.

"It has been a long time Padfoot." The werewolf reassured him. "Besides I did try to keep it from everyone." He reminded him.

The dog animagus nodded a little in understanding and then smiled a little bit. The rest of the dinner passed with everyone talking about this and that, nothing all that interesting or important. Just polite conversation to pass the time as they ate.

 _"Tomorrow will be better. And I'll get Dray his present. And I'll send him a letter."_ He paused and then smiled a little to himself. _"Can't forget about Nol and Ilno. I'm sure they're going to be all over us tomorrow. So yeah. Tomorrow will be better."_ He told himself with a slight nod.

 **An: So again... I'M SORRY! I didn't meant to take so long off of this story! Just... life and then I lost a little bit of motivation to do the story. But then I talked to a friend and got all of my inspiration back! So I'm very thankful to her! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Rate and review.**


	8. Brother Times, Yuletide, Back to School

**AN: I'm alive! Life just caught up with me for a while there. I had finals to get through that were just brutal on me and my writing time. Then there was the fact that this chapter was doing everything in it's power to not be written. It hated me. But here it is! Late but here! And I'm so sorry! So sorry!**

 **Chapter 7- Brother Times, Yuletide Cheer, Back to School  
**

Ryuu made his way up to his room while Hino went to hang out with the girls for a bit to give his brother a chance to look through the things that had once belonged to his parents. He was grateful to his brother for his consideration but at the same time wasn't sure he wanted to be alone while doing this. Taking a deep breath and acting like the Gryffindor he wasn't, he opened up the box and started looking through its contents.

There were some personal journals that had been his mother's, they mostly dealt with new charms and potions that she had apparently been developing. They were all fascinating and he gained a deeper respect for the brilliant woman he had never known. There was also a photo album of the two people that had brought him into this world, and some of the pictures towards the end had him in them when he was just a baby. _"I really do look so much different than I would have."_ He thought with a slight smile.

When he reached the bottom he pulled out a cloak and tilted his head slightly to the side in curiosity. It was silky to the touch and almost seemed to ripple like water. Humming thoughtfully to himself he got up and put the cloak on, wondering what it would look like. Once it was on he gasped slightly in surprise. He was invisible! _"An invisibility cloak! Oh wow! That's awesome!"_ He grinned to himself as he took the cloak off and folded it up gingerly.

Not only was the cloak extremely rare, it had belonged to one of his parents. He wondered which one… probably his father but it could have belonged to his mother. _"I could always ask Remus…"_ He mused to himself, remembering that the man had been friends with his parents when they had been in school. That also reminded him that after they did all of their shopping the next day they would be telling Sirius who he was. _"Hope he takes it well…"_

Shaking himself out of his thoughts he looked at the things he had laid out on his bed. Books were the main items, along with a few trinkets, and the cloak. He wondered what all was in the Potter Vaults if this stuff had been what was outside the vaults at the time of his parents' deaths. Humming he decided that he would check out the vaults within the next couple of years.

Smiling a bit to himself he put all of the things back into the box, except for the cloak, he put that in his school trunk, and then took out his grimoire. He wanted to tell the magical book how he was feeling. It had been a good day after all.

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The next day they all got up early so that they could get out onto the Alleys and get their shopping done as quickly as possible. Mainly because the Naga in the group wanted to avoid the cold as much as possible. So they were planning on getting in and out as quickly as possible.

Ryuu snickered to himself as they all dragged themselves out of their house towards the Alleys to start their shopping. They all broke into groups so that they wouldn't have to worry about hiding what they got from everyone. Hino and Ryuu paired off as they made their way down the Alleys.

"We're getting gifts for our five sisters and our mama." Hino let out a long suffering sigh. "This is going to be fun." He grumbled while pulling his cloak a little closer around himself.

Ryuu laughed a little. "Yeah. But we're their brothers. They're not going to be completely disappointed no matter what we get them." He reassured him.

He shrugged a little. "I guess that's true." He admitted. "What are you planning on getting Draco?" He asked curiously.

"I'm planning on making him something. He's rich beyond belief so it's not like buying him anything will be special." He reminded his brother.

The Naga boy nodded a little in understanding. "I get that. What are you planning on making for him?"

"Not sure yet. But I'll figure it out eventually." He promised with a grin. "Now come on. We need to get presents." He reminded him as they quickly made their way down Knockturn to start their shopping for the day.

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After shopping for six girls, Remus, Sirius, Ilno, and Nol the two boys were exhausted. "Do we really need to get something for each other?" Ryuu asked from where his head was resting on the table of one of the restaurants on Diagon Alley.

"I don't even want to see another store today." Hino whined from where he was sitting, boneless, in the seat across from his brother.

They had started the day at the jewelry shop and picked out a locket that they could record a message in for their mother. They thought it would be perfect for her. From there on though, the day got infinitely worse. Remus and Sirius weren't _too_ hard to shop for, and Ilno and Nol were rather easy too, but their sisters were just irritating. They had ended up getting Rikka a set of Seeker pads for when she would be trying out for the position next year but the other girls? Well that was impossible. It wasn't like they could get Lissana books, there was a very real possibility she had read them already. And Shiko was a nightmare and a half because her tastes were a little off the wall and hard to keep up with. But the main issue was, even though they spent a lot of time with their sisters, it was still hard to get things for girls. They just didn't really understand their heads sometimes.

"Then my gift to you this Yule is the gift of no more shopping." The blue and green eyed boy told him.

"And mine is the same to you dear brother." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Sirs? Here's your food." Their waiter said with a bemused smile on his face.

They both made sounds of agreement while Ryuu leaned back from the table so that the man could set the plate down. "Mm. Smells good." He mumbled while picking up his fork to start eating the pasta he had ordered.

Hino let out a sigh as he looked at his own food. "We should have gone to a restaurant on Knockturn." He said while setting his chin in his hand as he started eating his own pasta.

Ryuu snickered a bit, knowing his brother liked his pasta with mice and you couldn't exactly order that on Diagon without getting far too many questions. "Sorry. Didn't think about it." He apologized, but the other boy just waved it off.

"Neither did I, so it's okay." He said while taking a bite of his food, but then made a slight face. "It's just not the same." He complained.

"Of course it's not. Now it's human friendly." The mostly human boy said with a snicker.

"Shut up. You're lucky. You don't have to deal with all of the stuff that comes with being… different. You can at least enjoy the food." He told him while taking a drink of his water.

Ryuu grinned but he felt a bit sad. "Yeah. Being able to enjoy food is a wonderful thing." He said, but he sounded a little bitter, making the Naga boy look up from his food.

"Ryuu… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I… I should have known better. I mean I understand the way you feel better than everyone else…"

"Hino. Stop. It's not your fault. And the only reason you know best is because we share a room. This isn't something I would have told anyone. I don't want to burden you guys just because I feel different. I'll be fine." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The older brother let out a sigh. "You always do that. Waving people off and insisting on not getting help, not talking to anyone about your feelings. It's not healthy Ryuu and you know it."

The blue and green eyed boy snorted a little bit. "I know that. But I'm not going to burden you guys with something that you can't change or do anything about. I'm not like you. I'm different. Nothing any of us can do about it. So what if I can't eat the same things you guys do? So what if I don't know what it's like when you guys shed? So what if being the only one like this, somewhere in-between, makes me feel like a freak sometimes? Nothing anyone can do about it." He scowled down at his food like it was the bane of his existence.

"Ryuu… you need to talk about this stuff! You can't keep it bottled up like that." He growled while leaning across the table a bit to look at his brother. "We're your family. We'll understand. And even if there's nothing we can do about it we can talk to you. We can help ease the pain."

He looked up at the other boy and let out a sigh. "I guess." He then grinned, a lopsided little grin, that Hino recognized as his 'I'm grateful but uncomfortable so I'm now going to say something to try and make us both laugh', grin. "At least we're not girls. Otherwise we'd both be crying right now."

Hino snorted and rolled his eyes. "Idiot." He poked his brother's leg under the table and then they both went back to their food. But now Hino was thinking. He had always known his brother felt different and a little off since he wasn't like everyone else. He wasn't completely human, his snake like eyes were proof enough of that, but he wasn't really a creature either. He was somewhere in-between. But he had never known that his brother felt like a freak because of that. _"He's good at hiding it. He doesn't want the rest of us to worry about him."_ When it came to making his family happy, Ryuu would tear down heaven and raise hell if he had to. It really was amazing that he didn't end up in Hufflepuff, but he supposed that his brother's cunning is what he usually used to help the rest of them. "Hey Ryuu." He said after a while of eating in silence.

"Hm?" The other looked up from his plate curiously.

"You know that you're not a freak right?" He asked while looking the other in the eye.

Ryuu paused and stared at the other for a few moments. "I know. But sometimes I can't help but feel that way."

The Naga boy nodded a little in understanding. "You also know that we're all here for you right?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "That just like you we'd do anything for you. Maybe not as elegantly as you can but we'd rip heaven down and raise hell for you." He said seriously.

He blinked in surprise at his brother for a moment before a slow smile slipped across his face. "Thanks." He said quietly.

"Anytime."

They then went back to eating, the air between them seeming to be much lighter, and Ryuu seemed to be happier than he had been a few minutes ago. Or at least he seemed to no longer be under the same self-inflicted burden anymore.

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When they got back after their lunch, Remus and Sirius where the only ones already back. "The girls still shopping?" Ryuu asked curiously.

"We assume so." Remus said with a slight shake of his head.

"Of course they are. Seriously what is that appeal of shopping for girls?" Hino asked as he came back from putting the shopping bags in his and Ryuu's room.

"No one knows. It's just something that exists." Sirius said with a shrug. "No one understands it. Not even them."

The blue and green eyed boy snorted as he walked into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" Hino called to him as he flopped onto the couch while transforming back into his snake form. "We already ate!" He reminded him.

"I know." He walked into the room and tossed a bag to his brother. "But I thought you'd want a little snack since you pasta was so disappointing." He said as he collapsed into a chair.

The Naga boy blinked and then looked down at the bag off mice his brother had tossed at him. "Ah… thanks." He smiled at the other boy, who smiled back.

"I'm still not used to that." Sirius admitted as he took up the whole loveseat and Remus took a seat next to Hino on the couch.

"You mean people eating mice?" Ryuu asked with an amused snicker.

"No. People eating mice whole. You know, just opening their mouths and swallowing the whole damn thing." He said with a slight shake of his head. "I'm not saying don't do it." He reassured Hino when he noticed the boy pause in lifting the mouse out of the bag. "I'm just saying I'm still getting used to it."

"I'm sure you'll get used to eventually Padfoot." Remus reassured him as Hino went back to his snack. "It took me a while to get used to it too."

"I don't get why it's weird since I've just been raised around it." Ryuu said with a slight shrug. "In fact I think it's weird that you think it's weird."

Hino rolled his eyes. "Give them a break Ryuu. Like you said you've been raised around it. They were raised in households where eating mice whole was considered strange."

"Hm. I guess. I can kind of understand that…" He hummed thoughtfully while Sirius snickered.

"Well I can say this at least. It never seems to be boring around here." The dog animagus said while stretching out a bit more on the love seat.

"I do strive to keep up a lively conversation most of the time." Ryuu said with a grin. _"Wonder how he's going to react when he finds out…"_ He thought to himself as he tossed his legs over the arm of the chair and yawned a little bit.

They chatted about things for a while as they waited for the girls. It was nearly dinner time when they all came in, looking quite happy despite the cold weather. "Have fun ladies?" Remus asked with a smile.

"You betcha!" Rikka said with a grin, her eyes glistening with excitement.

Hino snickered as he got up. "Happy to hear it. Hope you didn't have dinner without us." He said with a slightly teasing grin.

"Of course not." Sessina said with a smile as she waved her hand causing all of their shopping bags to go to their respective rooms. After dinner was served they all sat around eating in silence. Everyone but Sirius knowing about the conversation that was coming. And the dog animagus was rather confused by the heavy atmosphere surrounding everyone else.

About half way through the meal he finally had enough. "Okay what's going on?" He asked with a frown while looking around.

"Ah… Well…" Remus looked at Ryuu who set his fork down and wiped his mouth.

"We might as well tell him now." He said with a slight shrug and then turned to look at Sirius. "We were going to wait until after dinner. But since you asked…" He made a dismissive wave of his hand. "So… the thing is you knew my birth parents." The blue and green eyed boy started, feeling a little nervous. He had never actually told anyone who he was. His mother was always the one to tell people. Not that they had told all that many people but still. He wanted to be the one to do it this time.

"Huh?" Sirius blinked at the boy and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Who were your parents?"

Ryuu ran a hand through his hair as his mother looked at him worriedly, and Remus watched Sirius in case the ex-convict reacted badly to the news. "Lily and James Potter. And before you say anything, the boy that's claiming to be Harry Potter isn't actually him. I don't think he's pretending or acting, I think he really believes he's Harry Potter. But he's not." He got out in a rush and then waited as he watched Sirius.

The raven haired man stared for a while before turning to Remus with an unreadable expression. It was like he was trying to process what he'd just been told, even though his expression was blank and near impossible his eyes held a torrent of emotions. They ranged from confused and unsure to hurt and betrayal. "He's really Harry?" He asked shakily. When the werewolf nodded a hesitant hope entered the storm behind his eyes. "Why… didn't you tell me?"

"It… It wasn't my place to tell you." Remus bowed his head in shame. "Ryuu wanted to tell you himself and…"

Sessina set her hand on Remus's shoulder and cut in when the werewolf floundered. "We also wanted you to be a little better before we dumped this on you." She told him gently.

Sirius rubbed at his eyes and took a deep shaky breath and then turned back to Ryuu so fast the boy briefly wondered if he had given himself whiplash. But he was pulled into such a bone crushing hug a moment later that all of the air wooshed out of his lungs. "S-Sirius?" He wheezed while trying to put a little bit of space between himself and the man that seemed to be trying to crush him to death.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, making Ryuu stop trying to pull away. "I never should have gone after Pettigrew that night. I should have taken you and taken care of you like your parents wanted me to."

"Sirius… it's okay. I ended up with a good family. So don't worry about it." He lightly patted the man's arm. "Besides you would have flipped out when I came into my snake inheritance. You wouldn't have known what was going on."

Sirius pulled back and then frowned a little in confusion. "So… wait. I'm a little lost. You're going to be turning into a… snake like creature but… how?" He asked, his frown deepening.

"I believe that one of his parents, most likely James, was distantly related to a creature and that when he married Lily that long lost creature blood was reawakened." Sessina explained. "The failed killing curse may have also played a part though." She said, looking at her son's forehead.

"But… James had like… _nothing_ snakey about him." He mulled over with a frown, his eyes full of that Marauder's curiosity.

"Well you know how with all those pureblood families there is so much inbreeding that certain traits get lost as the blood becomes more convoluted. It's like how in wizarding society there are Squibs, because of the way they all liked to stay 'pure'." She tried to explain. "The same can happen with creature blood especially if they kept breeding with wizards rather than creatures."

"Oh…" The dog animagus hummed and then looked over at the mostly human boy and frowned when he saw smooth skin on his forehead. "That's another thing… where's his scar?" He asked.

"Ah." Ryuu hissed a spell and waved his hand a little, causing the glamour that clung to his head and eyes, to make them more human, disappeared. Revealing the lightening shaped scar and the snake like quality of his pupils. "Mama put a glamour on it so that no one would know." He explained while tapping the scar with his finger. "Can't exactly walk around with it showing, now can I?" He asked with a slightly amused smile.

"I guess not." He said with smile that then turned into a grin. "It's like a giant prank on the whole world."

Remus rolled his eyes and chuckled a little. "Is that all you ever think of Padfoot?"

"Oi. Shut up." The animagus said with a pout and then turned back to Ryuu. "Not sure how Prongsy would have felt about his son being in Slytherin but… I think he would have approved if he saw how you were." He said with a slight grin coming back to his face, even though it was a little tight.

The mostly human boy rolled his eyes. "Slytherin isn't evil Sirius. It's just full of cunning people. It's not our fault that the whole school likes to label us by the few that ended up becoming evil. Moldyshorts was a bad guy. Smart but also stupid. Honestly. The way he tried to take over the world. Completely un-Slytherin." He said while clicking his tongue in distaste. "A true Slytherin would have taken over the world without attracting so much attention, and by the time anyone realized what was going on it would have been too late."

Shiko snickered as Sirius stared at Ryuu in shock. "Planning on taking over the world?" She asked curiously.

"Hm? No. At least not right now. I'm just pointing out how stupid he was. There were much better ways to take over the world." He said with a careless shrug.

Sirius laughed a little sheepishly at the boy's words. "You're… quite the Slytherin." He pointed out.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Ryuu said while going back to his food. "I rather enjoy the way I am. Besides it helps me get away with things when I need to." That got a chuckle out of the man. He looked over at his parents' old friend and saw the slight frown that marred his features, making him let out a heavy sigh. "Look. I know I'm not what you would have expected as Lily and James' son. But I'm not their son. Not really. I was raised by my mama. I may have been born to them but as far as I'm concerned, she's my mother. And no one else." He said while nodding to Sessina, who smiled a little at the boy. "My birth parents do hold a special place in my heart, but I never met them. So I don't know what it would have been like to be their child."

Sirius stared into the boy's blue and green eyes for a moment, before nodding a little in understanding. "I… guess I understand that." He relented.

"Good. Because I wouldn't want you treating me like you would have my birth parents. Because I'm not them. But I did want you to know. That way you would know I was safe."

He couldn't help once again staring at the boy as he ate. He really was something else. "You're a really good kid." He said while ruffling the boy's somewhat messy hair.

"Hey!" He cried out while swatting the man's hand away. "Keep your hands out of my hair!"

"Oh? Don't like that? Then I'll just have to do it more!"

"Ack!" Ryuu leaned away from the man. "Stop it!" The rest of the meal was full of laughter as everyone watched Ryuu try to get away as Sirius continued to mess with his hair. It was a very pleasant evening.

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The next day the Narga children spent time with Ilno and Nol, telling them all about Hogwarts and their time exploring the castle.

"It sounds like so much fun. Too bad we can't go." Nol said with a slightly depressed sigh.

"I know it sucks but you guys use a different type of magic than we do. So it wouldn't be as much fun for you. Just frustrating when you can't get a spell to work." Lissana said soothingly while patting the boy's shoulder.

"She's right Nol. And from what if sounds like they don't have any crafting classes so we wouldn't be able to work with our hands all that much." Ilno pointed out to his brother. "Here we get to focus on our magic and our connection to the earth." He smiled and wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "So don't be so down."

The younger cyclops smiled a bit and nodded. "You're right." He agreed.

"But it is too bad that there isn't a school that creatures can go to without worrying about anything stupid, like being caught by humans." Ryuu said with a frown. "It sucks that we all have to hide."

"Maybe when we're older we should try and start a school or something." Kiko said while hanging upside down in the chair she was sitting in.

"That would be awesome." Hino agreed. "A big school where everyone can stay and learn and be themselves."

"It would take a lot of work." Zissa said thoughtfully.

"Well getting this street together took a lot of work as well. But Mr. Maxson did it." Rikka pointed out.

"But he's a how many centuries old vampire?" Lissana pointed out. "We're all kids right now. This is something that we would have to do when we're older, if we even want to do it then."

"She has a point." Ryuu said, while humming thoughtfully. "What do you say we talk about this again once we've graduated from school?" He suggested while looking around at everyone, and then held out his hand. Whenever they all made a deal they would all clasp hands and nod on it. It was their way of making a promise. Of course they all clasped hands and smiled at each other. They would think on this when they were older. And maybe, they would make a school for kids like them. Give them a safe place to learn and grow. Just maybe…

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The twenty-first rolled around and the kids dragged themselves out of bed for hot chocolate, special bacon and chocolate-chip pancakes, and of course, presents. They then spent most of the day curled up on the couches talking and just having a good time with each other.

The distinct lack of presents from Draco worried Ryuu quite a bit but there was nothing he could do, short of sending another letter to his friend. So far none of his letters had been answered and he was starting to think Draco hadn't even gotten them. So when he sent the present with a letter the day before he had told the owl to go straight to Draco's window rather than just the Malfoy residents. He hoped that would work…

He also hoped that Draco liked the potion that he'd made for him. It was a long lasting potion that every time you opened the stopper it would create a mist image of whatever the person needed to see to help them cheer up. Really it just kind of gave them a nudge in the right direction. Like if they needed to see a person that could help them cheer up it would show that person, or a certain place. It was a little like a remembral but not quite.

It wasn't a human potion. It was a Naga potion that required a special spell to be recited at the end in Parselmouth to make it work. He hoped he wasn't stepping over some line and making his friend uncomfortable or something, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time… Well he'd just have to hope for the best. He just hoped he got a response this time…

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Sessina yawned a little after all of the kids had gone to bed. "Mm." She stretched and the paused when he came down stairs and found Remus standing there with a smile. She looked around curiously and then looked back at him. "Where's Sirius?"

"He went back home." He explained with a smile and then pulled out a present. "Happy Yule." He said softly.

"Remus… I thought we agreed not to get each other anything. That we would only spend money on the kids." She said with a shocked look on her face.

"I know. But I didn't feel right not getting you something." The werewolf said with an amused smile. "So here. You deserve this."

The Naga blushed. "But I didn't get you anything." She said while hesitantly reaching out and taking the present into her hands. "I feel bad about this…" She admitted while chewing on her bottom lip.

He chuckled and shook his head a little bit. "Don't worry about it. Now open it." He insisted with a slight grin. "Come on. I want to know what you think of it." He told her.

She smiled a little at him before sitting on the couch and opening the present. Inside was a beautiful jewelry box that had a snake carved on top of it. "Oh." She had been looking for a new jewelry box, the one she had was running out of space and she couldn't add anymore charms to it without running the risk of it falling apart. "Thank you Remus. This is beautiful." She ran her fingers over the wonderful smooth wood.

"That's not all. Open it up." The werewolf encouraged, his smile widening to an almost painfully large grin.

Sessina looked at him and then opened the top of the box. Inside, was a beautiful necklace, with a note laying on top of it. She admired the necklace for a moment before picking up the note. _This may seem a little childish, but I wasn't sure I had the confidence to ask you out loud. I really am a cowardly man. Will you go out with me?_

Her head snapped up and she stared at the blushing man in front of her. "You… want to go out with me?" She asked, her voice colored with surprise. It had been a long time since she had been on a date. Not since Kilko had died. She hadn't thought that she would ever be with anyone again, as a creature dating wasn't the same as it was for humans. When a creature dated it was in the hopes of finding a mate, someone to be with forever, not just to have a random fling with, or date for a little while and then break up. For most creatures asking someone out on a date was a big step.

"Yeah." He scratched at a scar on his cheek while avoiding looking at her. "I know this is a big deal. But… we've known each other for a long time. I know your children really well, I like them, they like me. I _really_ like you. I want to be with you." He was blushing so badly it couldn't be healthy.

"I like you too. And want to be with you." The Naga averted her eyes. "I… never thought I would say that to anyone after…"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I understand. But it's been twelve years. I think you deserve to be happy again." He pulled her closer to himself and rubbed her back soothingly.

She rested her head on his shoulder. "You really are too good Remus. I'm happy you came into my life." She murmured to him.

"So am I."

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Draco really wasn't having the best holiday. His father had been furious when he had heard how Draco had been acting and who he'd made friends with. He had been confined to his room the moment they got home. His father sometimes stopped by to tell him how stupid and worthless he was. How he couldn't even make it through one year without messing up. It hurt every time he said those things but he bared with it, not wanting to upset his father any more than he already had.

But because of the constant confinement he hadn't been able to get presents for his friends. And that had upset him greatly. He had promised to get at least Ryuu and Shiko gifts. He hoped they weren't angry at him…

He looked up when he heard a tapping at his window. With a frown he got up and went over to open it, letting an owl in. It had two letters attached to one of its leg and two small gifts attached to the other. Feeling a little lost and confused, Draco reached out and removed the letters and gifts. He opened the letters first and found they were from Ryuu and Shiko. Shiko's was a little on the blunt side but he could tell she was worried about him. Even the threat at the end, saying she would beat him up if he lost to Rikka at Quidditch next year, had a note of worry to it. Her gift to him was a small quaffle, which she had apparently made herself, with a note saying he would make a great chaser.

Smiling a little he turned to Ryuu's letter.

 _Hey Dray,_

 _How you doing? I've written you a couple of times now but since you haven't responded I'll assume you haven't gotten any of them. If you're in trouble please tell me and I'll convince someone to come get you, yeah?_

 _If I'm just overeating and you're just off doing something, then tell me. But seriously, I'm worried about you. If you don't respond to this letter I'm storming Malfoy Manor and finding out what happened to you. And I'm not joking about that either._

Draco smiled a little sadly at his friend's concern for him and then went back to reading.

 _Well… now that I've threatened you… onto your gift. It's a potion I made for you. It's rather impressive if I do say so myself (even if I did need my mama's help to do it perfectly). It's a really nifty potion. Whenever you're feeling down you just open the bottle up and it'll show you what you need to cheer up. A place, a person, just something funny, whatever will make you happy, or laugh._

 _Ingenious right?_

 _It was invented by one of my ancestors and I had to beg my mama into letting me give it to you as a present since it's a family secret. So even though I was able to give it to you for a gift, I cannot, under any circumstances, teach you how to make this potion. Sorry! But I do hope you like it._

 _Now. I know I've already asked, and already threatened, but seriously, tell me if something is wrong. I'm worried about you. You're my best friend._

 _You're crazy but caring friend,_

 _Ryuunoske Narga (just call me Ryuu)_

 _P.S. If I find out you lied to me I'll be extra tough during our martial arts practice. Understand?_

Draco winced a little at the implication of lying to his friend. The martial arts training was already brutal. How would he manage to make it even worse? Though he didn't doubt that Ryuu could do it.

Letting out a sigh he leaned back from the letter and then took out the gift that Ryuu had made for him. The liquid inside was rather misty and had an ethereal quality to it. Deciding he could really use something to cheer him up (and wanting to know just how impressive this potion was) he opened the top.

A mist rose from the top and swirled around for a little bit before forming a ghostly image of Ryuu and his siblings. "Wha…" _"It'll show you what will make you happy."_ He blushed a little and then put the top back on the vial. "Right." He muttered. "Father wouldn't be happy about that." He murmured to himself and then grabbed a piece of parchment and stared at it for a little bit, before he started writing. He couldn't lie to his friend, Ryuu always seemed to know when he was lying, but he could make it not seem bad at all, which really it wasn't.

"Nothing is wrong." He mumbled to himself. "This is normal." His hand paused in his writing as he stared down at the page in front of him. "I want to tell you to come get me." He whispered to the page. "But I can't. Because my father is too powerful." He took a deep steadying breath before finishing the letter and giving it to the owl to take it to Ryuu. "There you go." He murmured.

The owl spread its wings and flew away.

Leaving Draco feeling a little hollow. He turned back to the potion Ryuu had made for him and opened it again. At least that way he'd be able to see his friends for a little while.

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Ryuu frowned as he read the letter that Draco had sent him. "You're covering it up." He muttered to himself.

"Huh?" Hino asked from where he was lounging on his bed.

"Nothing. Just the letter from Draco." He explained.

"Worried about him?"

"Always. He's in trouble. I know that. But he won't tell me. He's not exactly not telling me though. He's just skirting around the truth." The blue and green eyed boy let out a low hiss. "I don't like it. But…"

"But there's nothing you can do about it." The Naga boy finished for him.

"Yeah." He let out a tired sigh. "I don't know what to do. And neither do any of the adults. They have no way to help in this situation." He folded the letter up and set it on his bedside table. "I'm just worried."

"Yeah… I can see that." Hino walked over to his brother and set a hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure something out."

The mostly human boy snorted at that but leaned into his brother's touch. "Thanks." He muttered.

"Even if you don't believe me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

He smirked a little bit. "Especially if I don't believe you."

Hino smiled a little. "Good to know." He said softly, while giving his brother the silent comfort he needed.

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School would be starting up in a couple of days. And Ryuu was planning on finding Draco on the train and sticking to his side like a mouse on cheese until the school year ended. He had sent Draco a few more letters, but he had to be careful. If he sent letters to close to each other, then Draco's father might just find out about them and would do something to the blond. There was no doubt in his mind about that. So he sent them at night and not too close together. He just hoped that Draco was okay…

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"I'm sorry, Father. I'm so sorry." He muttered while curling up in a corner of his room.

"You better be." The man growled as he slipped his wand away. "I expect you to make better choices from now on."

"I will." He whispered softly while trembling from the pain of the curse his father had just put him under. "I'll be better."

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As Ryuu sat on the train, looking out over the train station, he saw Draco's blond hair and watched his progress. He didn't look so good. He was paler than usual and seemed to be holding back flinches every time his father moved a certain way. _"Dammit."_ He grit his teeth in anger as he watched Draco get on the train.

He jumped to his feet and quickly made his way to where he had seen his friend get on. He slipped through the crowd, dodging and weaving through the people around him. When he found the blond, Crabbe and Goyle were on either side of him.

"Draco." He called and saw the other boy stiffen before turning to look at him with slightly desperate eyes. He had dark circles under his eyes and his skin looked even worse the closer he was.

Crabbe and Goyle moved in front of Draco with sneers, blocking Ryuu from getting any closer to him. "Leave him alone." They both growled at the same time, their faces contorting and making them look an awful lot like trolls.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow and then looked at the silver eyed boy, who met his eyes and seemed to be pleading with him. "Oh? And what are you two going to do about it?" He asked darkly, making both boys stiffen slightly before sneering again and pulling their wands out. "That's not going to work." He hissed, right on the verge of slipping into Parseltongue, making those around him stiffen at the strange quality his voice had taken. He shot forward, not bothering to take his wand out. Instead he took them both out with the martial arts he liked to use so much. A knee to Goyle's gut and a fist to Crabbe's face and they were done. He then stood casually in front of Draco with a questioning look.

Draco stared at him, looking rather shocked, and then glanced at the two boys laying on the ground twitching. "I'm not supposed to be friends with you anymore." He told him softly, sounding a little defeated.

"Hm. Why?"

"Because you're not a pureblood. You're not from an old family. And you're a bad influence." The silver eyed boy said while looking at his friend with that same desperate expression.

Ryuu snorted. "That's all?" He shook his head and grabbed his friend's arm and started pulling him down the train towards his compartment. "First off, you don't know my blood purity. And just so you know I am a pureblood… well my family is. Don't know about me but I was raised as a pureblood so that's all that matters. Second, my family is actually pretty damn old. Just not here in England. Look up the name Narga in Greece and you'll see just how old we are." He stopped in front of the compartment door and turned to face his friend. "And if he insists that I'm a bad influence then I'll show him that I'm actually a much better influence than anyone else in our house." He said with a confident smirk. "I'm a real Slytherin after all."

The blond stared at him before shaking his head a little bit. "You're… impossible." He said softly, but there was a slight smile tugging at his lips.

"Good. Because otherwise I would be too boring." His smirk turned into a grin. Now that he was no longer looking so desperate, Ryuu was feeling a little better about everything. Though the pale and tired look was still worrying him. But he knew that if he asked now he wouldn't get any answers, so he just pulled the other into the compartment with Hino and Lissana. "Look who I found." He said with a grin, making the two look up from the game they were playing.

"Yo." Hino said with a slight wave.

"Hey." Lissana said dismissively as she focused on the game.

Ryuu snickered and sat down, pulling Draco with him. "So… looking forward to the next semester of school?" He asked his friend curiously. _"I'll keep the conversation away from break for now. That's something that we need to talk about privately."_ He thought while covering his suspicions and worry with a grin. _"But I will know what happened to you. Even if I have to drag it out of you one word at a time."_

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About half way through the trip back to school they ended up falling asleep. Just like on the way back home for break. Ryuu was only half asleep so he felt it when Draco's head fell onto his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open and he looked down at his friend. _"Draco… you haven't been sleeping at all have you? The circles under your eyes look like bruises. You idiot. You can talk to me whenever you need to."_ He wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Something bad happened to him didn't it? Over break?" Hino asked quietly from across the compartment, his eyes still closed.

"You think?" He muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm, then let out a heavy sigh.

The Naga boy peaked an eye open at his brother. "No need to get so sarcastic." He then glanced at Draco. "What do you think happened?" He asked with a frown.

"I think he's being abused." The green and blue eyed boy said, not bothering to hide what he thought was going on. "And I think that his father will keep him from being helped. His father just has too much influence." A deep scowl spread across his face.

He looked at his brother's best friend and then back at his brother. "Of all of us you'll be able to figure something out. And of course we'll help you." He looked back at Draco. "He looks really tired. Even while asleep."

"Tell me about it." He looked down at his friend and let out another sigh, and then stiffened a bit in surprise when he felt Draco shift a bit closer to him. It was odd. Draco would never do something like that when he was awake so it had shocked him for a moment. "We should be quiet. We don't want to wake Draco or Lissana." He said while nodding to their sister.

Hino glanced at her as well and then nodded in understanding. "Alright. Are you going to try and sleep again?" He asked.

"Don't know." Ryuu glanced at the blond sleeping on him. "I might."

"That would be adorable." He said while smirking at his brother.

He shook his head a bit and rolled his eyes. "Jerk." He muttered softly, but a slight smile tugged at his lips as he looked at his brother. "Wake me when we get there."

"Of course." The Naga boy pulled a book out of his trunk.

The mostly human boy shifted to get a little more comfortable and then closed his eyes to sleep. _"I'll figure out a way to help you Draco. I swear."_

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When the train was coming to a stop Hino woke them all up and they got changed into their school robes. Draco still looked tired but he looked better than he had at the beginning of the train ride. He was still pale, but the bags under his eyes were a lot less defined now.

"You know you don't look so good right?" Ryuu asked his friend with a curious tilt of his head.

Draco glared at him. "You don't need to point out the obvious. You know that right?" He growled sarcastically.

"Oo. He's snippy." He wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders and pulled him a bit closer. "You know you can talk to me about anything right?" He asked softly.

The blond stiffened slightly and then he glanced at his friend. "Yeah." He muttered as they entered the school and made their way to their house table. "Doesn't mean I'm going to right now." He said softly as they sat down.

"Didn't expect you to. We are in a rather public place after all." Ryuu let go of his friend and sat down. "Though I'll warn you right now, I'm planning on pestering you until you tell me what happened." He told him softly. "So you might as well tell me when we get back to the dorm later."

He glanced over at his friend. "You're a pain. You know that right?" He muttered with a slight shake of his head. "Give me a couple of days. Okay?" He requested with a slight frown.

He nodded a little bit. "Alright. I'll give you a couple of days." He agreed while giving the other's shoulders a squeeze before letting go and starting on his food. _"At least he agreed to talk to me."_

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"Severus, come in my boy."

The potions master entered the room and sat down in the chair offered to him. "Why did you summon me Headmaster? The children have just returned and I have things to do." He said with a dark scowl on his face. He doubted the headmaster wanted to talk about anything trivial or about the upcoming semester or he would have mentioned it at the teachers meeting.

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat with a frown on his face. "I would like you to keep an eye on the Narga siblings." His frown deepened. "Especially Ryuunosuke. I do not have a good feeling about him."

It was Severus's turn to frown. "Of all of my snakes I think the Narga siblings are some of the kindest and most loyal. They're the least of your concerns."

"I still want you to keep an eye on them. Their minds are closed to me and they are hiding something. It is unacceptable." He said with a slight shake of his head.

The man's face was blank as he stared at the headmaster. "Many families have secrets that they wish to keep Dumbledore. It is probably nothing of great importance."

The headmaster shook his head a little. "I don't think that's the case. They're hiding something. And it worries me. Not to mention the way they remain so close. It is worrisome."

The potions master didn't agree at all. But he could see he wouldn't get anywhere with arguing. "I will keep an eye on them." He promised.

"Good, good. Thank you, my boy."

 _"_ _I don't agree. But I'll keep an eye on the boy and his siblings."_ He thought while getting to his feet. "Well if that's all then Headmaster, I am very busy and have a lot to do." He said with an irritated frown.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, my boy." Albus said with a smile.

The man let out a huff as he turned and walked out of the room with a sneer curling his lips. _"Honestly. There are a lot worse Slytherins he should be worried about."_ He frowned slightly to himself. _"But why is he so worried about the Narga children?"_

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The next morning Ryuu made his way over to Draco's room. _"He's probably got spells and stuff protecting his room like I do."_ He thought with a slight tilt of his head. _"Well… I suppose I could knock…"_ He let out a slight sigh, and then knocked on the door. "Draco! Get up!"

There was the sound of movement and then the door was yanked opened and Draco glared at him. "It's barely five in the morning." He growled, his hair was a complete mess, he was still in his pajamas (a longer than normal shirt and a pair of comfortable looking slacks) and he had a layer of sweat that indicated he hadn't had a shower yet. "What, in the name of anything! Do you want so freaking early in the morning?" He glared at his best friend.

"You know you're cute when you're angry." Ryuu said with a grin while slipping past his friend into the room, making the blond scowl even more at him.

"What makes you think that you can just barge in here?" He asked with narrowed eyes but didn't demand that he got out.

"Because we're best friends. And you didn't tell me to get out or go away." The blue and green eyed boy said with a grin.

The blond rolled his eyes and yawned as he turned and went into the bathroom. "I'll be out in a second. Don't ruin anything."

He snickered at his friend and looked around at what he had in his room. There wasn't all that much, mainly an extra blanket on the bed that was green with silver trim, he also had a couple of trinkets on his dresser, a clock on his nightstand, and that was about it. "You don't have many personal items do you?" He called out to his friend.

"Shut up!" He yelled back, making the other boy snicker in amusement.

"Hm?" He noticed a vial sitting on the silver eyed boy's nightstand and smiled a little bit. "Did you like the gift I gave you?" He called out.

Draco walked out of the bathroom and looked at the vial his friend was holding. "Yeah. I did. It's nice." He said while walking over to his dresser to pick out his clothes for the day.

"Well I'm happy I could get you something you'd like." Ryuu plopped down onto Draco's bed and eyed him as he finished getting changed. "So I have something I want to ask you. And I would like an honest answer."

He turned to looked at his friend with a slight frown. "Alright. What is it?" He asked, looking a little concerned.

"What happened over break? Your letter skirted around the issue. I have an idea, but I want to know for sure." The mostly human boy insisted. "So don't lie to me."

The silver eyed boy frowned as he looked away from his friend. "I… don't want to talk about it."

"I don't care if you don't _want_ to talk about it. You _need_ to talk about it." He said fiercely. "Even if I can't help you in any other way than talking to you about it I can still at least talk to you about it and help you that way." He stood up and strode over to his friend. "So please, let me help you."

Draco looked scared as he looked up at his friend. "Ryuu… you don't know what you're asking." He said softly while stepping back from the other boy. "I… I can't…"

"Yes, you can." Ryuu set his hands on the other's shoulders. "You can tell me. Don't let your father control everything about your life. I'm your _friend_ Draco. And that means I'm going to help you no matter what. And I know that getting you away from your father is impossible because of how powerful or whatever he is but I can still help you." He insisted while squeezing his friend's shoulders.

He refused to meet his friend's eyes. "Ryuu… talking about this isn't going to help me." He whispered.

"Yes it will." He pulled his friend into his arms and gave him a hug. Draco went rigid at the contact before relaxing. "Talking about the things that make you feel bad or hurt you is the best way to get over it." He told him. "My brother made me realize that."

The silver eyed boy was trembling a little bit as he hugged his best friend. "Ryuu… I… my father yells at me a lot. That's not so bad." He mumbled.

"That's not all he does, is it?" He asked gently while leading the other boy over to his bed to sit down.

"Ryuu… it's really not something you need to get so worked up about. It'll only make you upset." He insisted as he sat down on his bed.

"You still need to talk about it." The blue and green eyed boy told him fiercely.

Draco pursed his lips. "I'll talk to my godfather about it." He told him while looking away from his friend.

Ryuu let out a sigh. "Alright. I'll drop it for now. But if next year things don't seem to be better I'm going to want to talk about it." He told him.

He shook his head a little in exasperation. "You're so impossible." He muttered with a slight shake of his head, a smile tugging at his lips. "But seriously. Five in the morning?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure we could talk for however long we needed to." He said while patting his friend's shoulder and grinning a little bit.

"Idiot." The blond said with a snort. "Now we have like over an hour until breakfast." He, very ungracefully, flopped back onto his bed.

The blue and green eyed boy snorted as he flopped back onto the bed as well. "I don't think was very Malfoy of you." He said with a playful grin.

Draco let out another, very, undignified snort. "Don't think of me as a Malfoy when it's just us okay?" He gently punched the other's shoulder.

His eyes lit up suddenly and he pulled Draco off the bed, making him squeak (in a very un-pureblood way). "Let's do some warm-ups." He took a fighting stance and smirked at the other. "You're probably out of shape from break. So, show me what you remember."

He blinked at his friend and then took his own fighting stance. Draco's fighting style was based around speed, he did a lot of dodging and joint holds, he didn't have the physical strength so his strikes weren't that powerful but with some more training he'd be rather hard to hit. And if he used a weapon he'd be rather fierce. But he was nowhere near ready for a weapon yet.

"Ready?" Ryuu teased.

Draco narrowed his eyes and then struck, without saying a word. It wasn't really in his style to make the first move, so it surprised Ryuu enough for the blond to actually get in a hit. He smirked in satisfaction that he had actually managed to hit the other. "Yeah. I think I'm ready." He said cheekily.

He rubbed at his jaw and smirked a bit. "You were ready." He said, his eyes bright with excitement. His fist lashed out and Draco was barely able to dodge it, in fact it was so close it caused his hair to be moved in the breeze created by his fist. "Nice." He snickered and then struck with his foot, trying to trip the other boy.

The silver eyed boy stumbled a bit but didn't fall and regained his footing, a slight scowl on his face. He dodged the next few attacks but Ryuu just had too much experience, so of course Draco lost. "I'm starting to think I'll never beat you." He muttered from where he was laying on the floor, after he'd had his arse handed to him by his friend, he had fallen to the ground. Then he'd decided to just stay there.

"I've been doing martial arts a lot longer than you Dray. You've been doing it for a couple of months, you can't expect to be able to be as good as me in such a short amount of time." He said from where he was perched on the edge of his friend's bed.

He looked up at him with a slight frown. "Well… I guess I know that. But…" He trailed off a little bit. "I want to be able to be on par with you." He admitted softly.

He smiled a little at his friend. "Don't worry, Dray. You'll get there eventually." He promised with a slight grin. "It'll just take some time."

"Yeah… I guess." Draco stretched and then got to his feet. "Breakfast will be starting soon and I want to take a shower after that. "I'll meet you in the common room."

"Alright. See you there." The blue and green eyed boy got to his feet. "You are getting better. Just so you know."

He paused. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

 **AN: So what did you think of this chapter? Did I rush into Remus and Sessina being together? And is there anything you'd like to see in the up coming chapters? Any kinds of creatures you'd like to see? Because this story will be revolving more around creatures in later chapters. Anyways! Rate and Review!**


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